Weekend, February 20-22, 2009 - The Daily Cardinal

BLOOMINGTON BLOWOUT: FIVE IN A ROW

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS: Win Bucks tickets worth over $450 by voting online.

Badgers win 68-51 and extend winning streak as Trevon Hughes scores 21

www.dailycardinal.com/readerschoice University of Wisconsin-Madison

Complete campus coverage since 1892

l

dailycardinal.com

SPORTS

l

PAGE 8

Weekend, February 20-22, 2009

MGE will give back extra funds

Early release of inmates possible under budget plan

By Anna Bukowski

By Steven Rosenbaum

THE DAILY CARDINAL

THE DAILY CARDINAL

Madison Gas and Electric proposed a customer refund Thursday of payments made last year that are subject to the approval of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. If passed, the refund will be applied to customers’ bills by the end of March. The average refund will be $12.50, but the range will be “all over the map ... some businesses may get thousands,” according to MGE spokesperson Steve Kraus. According to MGE, the refunds will be calculated proportionally to the customer’s utility use. The rebate accounts for the declining fuel costs in the past year. By law, MGE must fix their prices a year in advance; that is, “the gas you’re using today wasn’t purchased today,” PSC spokesperson Teresa Smith said. MGE’s cost estimates, and customers’ bills, proved higher than the actual fuel prices. MGE allows for a small margin of error above or below the estimated cost. However, if the margin exceeds a certain amount, MGE will file for a refund of the surcharge. The fuel to generate electricity is a large part of MGE’s budget; therefore they must account for fluctuating fuel prices with retroactive refunds. MGE can also charge a surtax to compensate for unexpectedly high fuel prices. “2008 was very volatile,” Kraus said. “Fuel prices went down, so [MGE] overcharged.”

Gov. Jim Doyle’s 2009-’11 budget proposal released Tuesday includes a program that would result in the premature release of inmates from the state’s prisons. The Criminal Justice Reform Initiative, aimed at reducing the budget of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, would also include the elimination of misdemeanor probation for certain nonviolent offenders. Department of Corrections spokesperson John Dipko said specific figures are unknown at this stage, but “the governor’s budget ensures the Department of Corrections will continue to fulfill its mission of keeping Wisconsin safe, but in a more efficient and effective way.” “I haven’t seen the details, but the state is in a budget crisis, and if we can save a few dollars by monitoring nonviolent criminals in a cheaper way, we might have to do that,” state Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, said. State Sen. Fred Risser, DMadison, said he supports the plan and believes laws regarding prison terms are too harsh. He said he would like to see reduction of sentences and an easier parole process for individuals who have proven they have been rehabilitated. “It’s not beneficial to society for people who have been rehabilitated to remain incarcerated,” he said. According to state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, Wisconsin incarcerates about twice as many people as Minnesota does, despite the fact that the states are similar in population and socioeconomic status. Black said it costs the state up to $40,000 per year to incarcerate one prisoner. “If we can safely help [prisoners] return to a productive life in society, we will be making a big dent in the state budget deficit,” he said. UW-Madison law professor Walter Dickey said that there is a historical precedent for early release in the state. “Wisconsin has done it several times in the past when the overcrowding problem has been serious,” he said. Budget deficits have led other states, such as California and Arizona, to implement similar measures, raising some concerns over public safety. According to Dickey, the public will remain safe as long as the Department of Corrections makes wise decisions about the prisoners they release early and there is adequate supervision of offenders.

mge page 3

LORENZO ZEMELLA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Police responded to the Palisades Apartments after two teens pointed a weapon at the manager of the Doubletree Hotel. The weapon, which was thought to be a gun, turned out to be a BB gun.

Teens arrested with BB gun outside Palisades By Rachel Holzman THE DAILY CARDINAL

Two teens were taken into custody Thursday night after the manager of the Doubletree Hotel reported the two suspects had a gun, which was actually a BB gun. According to Lt. Dave McCaw of the Madison Police Department, the manager of the Doubletree, located at 525 W. Johnson St., reported that a black teen wearing a gold coat had pointed a gun at her. While

she was on the phone with the 911 center, she reported the gun was handed to another black teen in a wheelchair who was waving the weapon toward the Palisade Apartments. The 15-year-old youth in the wheelchair told police he threw the weapon onto a porch of a nearby house when he heard police were coming. The house, McCaw said, was the residence the other teen had gone into. Police arrived at the scene to

find the teen in the wheelchair outside the house since he was unable to enter the residence without assistance. Both teens were taken into custody and were transported to the Juvenile Reception Center. The suspects, whose names will not be released, were charged with disorderly conduct while armed. McCaw said the police were unaware the weapon was a BB gun palisades page 3

Gov. Doyle signs budget-adjustment bill into law, pushes for bipartisanship By Cathy Martin THE DAILY CARDINAL

DANNY MARCHEWKA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Gov. Jim Doyle signs the budget-adjustment bill, which will help improve the state’s budget problems, at the state Capitol Thursday.

Gov. Jim Doyle signed the budget-adjustment bill, which will reduce the current budget deficit and cut state spending, at the state Capitol Thursday. Doyle said the legislation will directly reduce the current state budget gap by $700 million and will cut $125 million in state spending. He added the bill will create jobs by using $300 million of federal funds, modernize infrastructure and bring down health-care costs while expanding access. “This bill lays critical groundwork for getting our state’s economy back on track,” Doyle said. “It creates a platform for federal stimulus dollars to work quickly and efficiently.” The bill was just introduced Monday and passed Wednesday in the state Legislature without a single Republican vote in its favor. Doyle said he is glad the Legislature moved quickly and

did not waste time “pointlessly” deliberating. “I really appreciate the fact that the Legislature was ready to act and act very expeditiously,” Doyle said. State Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Green Bay, said Democrats passed the bill quickly to purposely keep people from examining it and realizing the negative impact it would have. “This bill should be nominated for a Sundance Award … because [it] was carefully choreographed to minimize the amount of news coverage that it got,” Montgomery said. The bill includes a number of tax increases, including a raise in taxes for corporations, which Montgomery said will constrain their budgets and give them no incentive to hire new employees. “At the end of the day, what this bill did was kill jobs. It’s just as simple as that,” Montgomery said. “The opportunities for UW doyle page 3

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”