West Allis man accused of lacing father's drinks

Sept. 02, 2010 6:30 p.m. | A 54-year-old West Allis man whose father was threatening to cut him out of his will was charged in Waukesha County Thursday with lacing the older man's drinks with a concoction of windshield wiper fluid and paint thinner.

A couple of sharp-eyed bartenders at the Pendulum Pub in New Berlin told police they spotted Robert Moore attempting to slip a bit of the fluid in the father's drink while the father, Robert Moore Sr., was indisposed. They summoned authorities.

The younger Moore, according to a complaint, gave the police several stories.

At first he denied trying to put anything in his dad's drink. Then, having been forced to produce a white plastic bottle from his pants pocket, Moore told police it contained a fat-burning diet substance. Investigators were not convinced. He then told police the bottle contained cough syrup, which he said he added to his dad's drinks to help him get drunk. Investigators were still not convinced.

Moore then told the skeptical officers that the blue fluid in the bottle was nothing but wiper fluid, which he said helped get his father drunk.

West Allis schools get $2 million boost from feds

Sept. 02, 2010 12:44 p.m. | The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District expects to receive $2.1 million from a federal jobs bill and it will use it to help fund the 2011-12 budget.

The money is part of the federal Education Jobs Fund, designed to save teacher jobs. Districts must spend the money by September 2012.

West Allis-West Milwaukee anticipates a $6 million shortfall in the 2011-12 school year, so administrators decided to spend the money then.

"This will go a long way in saving jobs and maintaining programs," Business Director Deb Rouse said.

TMJ4: Standoff in West Allis

Aug. 31, 2010 6:23 p.m. | Today's TMJ4 is reporting that Milwaukee and West Allis Police have surrounded a home near 54th Stree and Lincoln Avenue, reportedly looking for a bank robbery suspect.

Neighbors say officers went door-to-door, telling them to stay inside while they searched for the suspect, who has apparently holed up in a house, according to the TV station.

Skin infection forces West Allis health officials to take action

Aug. 27, 2010 8:35 p.m. | A small outbreak of impetigo on the Nathan Hale football team has been mostly contained, West Allis Health Commissioner Terry Brandenburg said.

About a dozen athletes on the football team and a few more on the soccer team were affected by the skin infection, which usually produces blisters, boils or sores on the face and hands but can appear anywhere on the body.

The school district sent a letter to parents last week explaining the condition and how to prevent and treat it, Brandenburg said.

Maintenance and athletic staff began sanitizing the locker room, weight room and equipment twice a day, according to the letter. Those control measures seem to work because the Health Department has not heard of cases in the last several days, he said.

Impetigo is transmitted through direct person-to-person contact and can take between one to 10 days before symptoms develop.

Special football preview section now online

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.

Colleagues fill injured cop's role in Special Olympics fundraiser

Aug. 25, 2010 4:32 p.m. | West Allis Police Officer Nick Stachula, shot in the line of duty Aug. 7, was supposed to be rappelling down the side of the Hilton Milwaukee City Center on Sept. 9.

The downtown Milwaukee event, called Over the Edge, is a fundraiser for Special Olympics, and officers raise money for the organization through pledges.

Stachula cannot participate due to his injuries, but his fellow officers are keeping his pledge page open - they hope people will support Stachula by pledging money to the Special Olympics.

His pledge page can be found at http://www.specialolympicswisconsin.org/overtheedge/pledge.asp?id_e=64.

Chinese restaurant may open on Highway 100

Aug. 25, 2010 4:12 p.m. | A Panda Express could be added to the Pick 'n Save and Kohl's shopping center site at 2575 S. 108th St.

The fast-food restaurant would be in a standalone building on the front of the property near Highway 100, according to a report to Plan Commission members.

The Plan Commission meets Sept. 1 to discuss the proposal. Also on the agenda is a proposal for Empower Credit Union, which would go in on the former Harry's True Value property at 10635 W. Greenfield Ave.

Man sues West Allis over gun open-carry arrest

Aug. 23, 2010 6:10 p.m. | Cited for carrying a holstered gun on his property in 2008, Brad Krause fought back and won acquittal in one of the first cases about so-called open carry in Wisconsin.

Now Krause is back in court, but this time he's the plaintiff in a civil case against the City of West Allis, whose employees violated his constitutional rights, according to his lawsuit in federal court in Milwaukee.

The complaint, which Krause filed without an attorney, seeks monetary damages for a long list of alleged violations, including reckless endangerment, wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution and violation of privacy. Krause also seeks an order that West Allis police expunge certain information about him from their records.

"I don't want to be perceived as a threat to anyone," Krause said Monday. "I just want to be safe, like everyone else."

The lawsuit names the city, its Police Department and three individual officers as defendants. City Attorney Scott Post said Monday the city had not yet been served with the complaint and had no comment.

West Allis-West Milwaukee bond rating hit again

Aug. 23, 2010 5:38 p.m. | The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District's credit rating has been reduced by Moody's Investors Service for the third time since early 2009, stemming from a decision to use borrowed money to fund investments that have soured.

The A2 rating assigned to the district is below the lowest rating that had been given by Moody's to a public school district in the state, according to information from the ratings agency earlier this year. Officials at Moody's and the School District could not be reached for comment.

Lower credit ratings usually translate into higher interest rates for borrowing money.

West Allis-West Milwaukee is one of five Wisconsin school districts that established trusts to purchase $200 million worth of complex investments called collateralized debt obligations to generate income for employee retirement benefits. In addition to putting borrowed money and existing assets toward the investment purchases in 2006, the districts' trusts also borrowed more than $165 million from a European bank that has been pressing for repayment.

The investments have plummeted in value and are now believed to be virtually worthless, and the districts have thus far refused to pay the outstanding debt.

New restaurant taking over old Moose Lodge in West Allis

Aug. 23, 2010 12:02 p.m. | The former Moose Lodge at 9105 W. Lincoln Ave. will be renovated into a bar/restaurant.

Owner Josh Johnson said some of the menu will be geared toward hospital workers at the nearby Aurora West Allis Medical Center, with daily specials, salads and sandwiches. The business will open at 11 a.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Some West Allis Common Council members had some concerns over the parking impact in the neighborhood. But others said they never heard complaints when the building was used by the Royal Order of the Moose and hosted club events and banquets.

There's no word yet on when the restaurant will open.

Man charged with shooting two West Allis officers

Aug. 19, 2010 7:46 a.m. | West Allis police Officers Nick Stachula and Ryan McNally found themselves in a dangerous situation early Aug. 7.

The officers were standing in a hallway 10 to 15 feet from Demario Lamonte Bell, who had just fled from a traffic stop and was now refusing to leave his girlfriend's apartment, standing in the dark and keeping his hands behind his back, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday.

Just as Stachula was about to use his Taser, Bell pulled a 9mm handgun from behind his back and began firing, the complaint says. Stachula was hit at least twice in the left leg, and McNally was shot in the left foot.

A police sergeant returned fire, striking Bell in the chest and abdomen, according to an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant.

Bell, 23, of West Milwaukee was charged this week with two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count each of being a felon in possession of a firearm and fleeing from or eluding a traffic officer.

Cosleeping death of infant reported in West Allis

Aug. 16, 2010 4:56 p.m. | Prosecutors are reviewing the death of a 4-week-old girl who died Sunday while sharing a bed with her parents at their home in West Allis, Milwaukee County officials said Monday.

Michaela Nirae Cruz is at least the 12th child under the age of 2 to die in an unsafe sleep environment in Milwaukee County this year, according to a Journal Sentinel count based on information from law enforcement and the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office.

According to a medical examiner's report released Monday:

Michaela's parents spent much of early Sunday morning drinking beer at a friend's house while Michaela and her twin brother slept upstairs.

Michaela, her brother and their parents returned to their home in the 1600 block of S. 57th St. shortly after 6 a.m.

School district buys another former Allis-Chalmers building

Aug. 16, 2010 4:52 p.m. | The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District will purchase a seven-story building at 1205 S. 70th St. for $3.7 million and put two more of its buildings on the market.

District officials say they want to consolidate programs and facilities to save money. In addition, administrators believe the building will generate additional revenue, with money received from rent projected to offset operating costs by almost $300,000 per year, according to a report to the School Board.

Current tenants on the first three floors are Milwaukee Area Technical College, which has corporate learning and mortuary sciences programs there, and the state of Wisconsin, which houses the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Department of Health and Family Services. MATC and the state will continue to use the building and will pay rent to the school district.

The 94,000-square-foot building was built in 1958 and originally served as an Allis-Chalmers office building.

It is the second old Allis-Chalmers office building the district has purchased this year, the first being a structure a block away at 1135 S. 70th St. for $1.3 million.

Last chance to win State Fair tickets on Facebook

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.