MILWAUKEE (AP) - Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. plans to build a 33-story apartment tower next to its downtown Milwaukee headquarters.
The $100 million project also will contain retail space and parking for Northwestern employees. Twenty-five floors will be set aside for apartments, containing 308 luxury units and 16 penthouses.
The Daily Reporter (https://bit.ly/1Nholw6https://bit.ly/1Nholw6 ) says the remaining eight stories, those closest to the ground, will be for parking, both for employees and the public.
Solomon Cordwell Buenz of Chicago is designing the project. Demolition of the current building at the site is expected to begin in January and the new building to be occupied by spring 2018.
Northwestern Mutual is currently building a 32-story office building in downtown Milwaukee. That building is scheduled to be completed in late 2017.
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Information from: DAILY REPORTER, https://www.dailyreporter.comhttps://www.dailyreporter.com
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WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. (AP) - A 17-year-old boy is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting death of his girlfriend’s mother in central Wisconsin.
Miguel-Angel Oertel of Nekoosa appeared in Wood County Circuit Court on Monday to face charges.
Authorities say Oertel fatally shot 47-year-old Theresa Coates at her home in Saratoga on Aug. 17, and shot himself in the head. The teen was released from a hospital on Sept. 16 and booked into jail.
Daily Tribune Media (https://wrtnews.co/1Z4TN4rhttps://wrtnews.co/1Z4TN4r ) reports that according to documents filed Friday, Oertel told investigators that Coates grabbed the end of his shotgun when he arrived at her home to say goodbye to his 17-year-old girlfriend before killing himself, and the gun went off.
Cash bond is set at $500,000. Oertel is due back in court Oct. 13.
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Information from: Daily Tribune Media, https://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.comhttps://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - Opponents of Wisconsin’s voter identification law argued in federal court Monday that the legislation is improperly restrictive and should be expanded to allow people to use more forms of ID.
The case represents the latest push from the American Civil Liberties Union against a law that has been the focus of a string of legal battles since it was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker four years ago.
Supporters of the legislation say its requirements help guard against election fraud, but opponents say its true intent is to make voting tougher for older, poor and minority voters who tend to support Democrats and are less likely to have the mandated forms of identification. Those include a Wisconsin driver’s license or state ID card, a U.S. passport, military ID card, college IDs meeting certain requirements, naturalization certificates or IDs issued by a Wisconsin-based American Indian tribe.
Assistant Attorney General Clayton Kawski defended the legislation, saying the ACLU is asking the court to overstep its authority and rewrite the law, acting as a sort of “super-Legislature.”
Judge Lynn Adelman didn’t rule on the request, and it was unclear when he might do so.
Attorney Sean Young, of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, asked for the judge to make changes in time for the February primary. He said the law as written violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Young said allowed forms of ID should include veterans’ health identification cards, technical college IDs, and out-of-state driver’s licenses for college students and snowbirds. He also asked that voters without the mandated forms of identification be allowed to cast ballots after signing an affidavit swearing to their identity under penalty of perjury.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Two judges who have been previously appointed by Gov. Scott Walker and a longtime Madison attorney have all applied for a vacancy on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Walker’s office released the names of those who applied by Friday’s deadline for the appointment. They are Appeals Court Judge Rebecca Bradley, Dane County Circuit Judge Jim Troupis and Madison attorney Claude Covelli.
Bradley, who has the backing of conservatives, has twice been appointed to judicial vacancies by Walker. He named her to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2012 and the appeals court in May. Also in May, Walker named Troupis, who has previously worked for Republicans, to the Dane County Circuit Court for a term that runs until August.
Walker plans to conduct interviews this week, said his spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick. Whoever is appointed will fill out the final 10 months of Justice Patrick Crooks’ term. Crooks died in office last month.
Bradley is the only one of the three applicants running for a full 10-year term on the court in next year’s spring election. Two other announced candidates for a full term on the court, Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg and Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Joe Donald, did not apply for the temporary appointment.
Democrats have said they feared Walker would appoint Bradley, who has the backing of conservatives in her run for the 10-year term, giving her an advantage over anyone else seeking the seat. Liberals generally back Kloppenburg while Donald is trying to position himself as the most independent.
Covelli, who is also considering running for a full 10-year term, said in a news release announcing he was seeking the appointment that he was “truly nonpartisan.”
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