outdoors

MADISON -- Wisconsin communities could keep more control over their frac-sand mines, under a compromise that's being worked on at the State Capitol. Senate Republican Tom Tiffany of Hazelhurst rankled local leaders in October, when he proposed the state take away the towns' police...

MADISON -- A special state Assembly committee is scheduled to release a report on recommendations for changes to the Common Core education standards in Wisconsin. The committee, created by Republicans earlier in the year, was formed to study and release possible changes to the voluntary...

MADISON -- Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to delay the restructuring of Badger-Care by three months would save taxpayers $23 million. That's according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, which analyzed the changes Walker wants lawmakers to make in a special session next...

A 45-year-old Ellsworth man sustained a gunshot wound Wednesday morning.

MADISON -- Wisconsin hunters shot 18 percent fewer deer than a year ago in the opening weekend of the state's nine-day gun season. The Department of Natural Resources said Monday that 110,797 deer were taken statewide. The buck harvest was down 25 percent to almost 54,000. The antlerless...

Temperatures hovering near 5 degrees at sunrise and winds gusting to more than 30 miles per hour made for challenging conditions for the opening of the 2013 Wisconsin nine-day gun deer season. “The predawn cold and winds made it clear that opening morning was going to test the...

Hundreds-of-thousands of deer hunters will hit the woods in Wisconsin Saturday, starting a nine-day gun season that poses a number of challenges. First, it's a later season than usual -- and the DNR's Kevin Wallenfang says it could mean less rutting activity. He says many areas...

White supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin was put to death Wednesday morning at a state prison in Bonne Terre Missouri. He targeted blacks, Jews, and gays in a nationwide killing spree that began in Madison in 1977, and continued until 1980. The Missouri Corrections Department said...

EAU CLAIRE – Four new wildlife biologists will be serving western Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources has announced. The biologists will provide habitat management and public recreation services on state wildlife areas; monitor wildlife populations from deer to ducks,...

MADISON -- The Wisconsin Assembly sent two major bills to Gov. Scott Walker during a 12-hour session that included a number of partisan squabbles. The lower house gave final legislative approval to a compromise that limits public access to some, but not all of the recreational land...

MADISON -- The Wisconsin Supreme Court was to hear arguments Monday on whether the Act 10 public union bargaining law should apply to local governments and public schools. The justices will hear arguments about a circuit court ruling 14 months ago. Dane County Circuit Judge Juan...

Madison attorney James Peterson has been nominated for a federal judgeship that's been vacant for four years, due to political bickering. President Obama named Peterson yesterday to replace the late John Shabaz in a federal district court that serves the western half of Wisconsin. Peterson...

The public is invited to attend a demonstration at 9 a.m., Saturday at the Hudson Rod, Gun & Archery Club that illustrates the risk of lead contamination from conventional bullets. Warden Paul Sickman said the department will present a short talk on the potential harmful effects...