Bus with Special Olympics athletes hits Wis. guardrail and tips over, seriously injures 2

WAUPUN, Wis. — Wisconsin authorities say a bus with about 20 adult Special Olympics athletes crashed while returning from Nebraska, leaving two people with serious injuries.

4 Wisconsin women accused of tying up, gluing married at center of alleged lovers’ quadrangle

WAUSAU, Wis. — A married man who planned to rendezvous with one of his handful of lovers at an eastern Wisconsin motel instead found himself bound, blindfolded and assaulted by a group of women out for revenge, according to court documents.

Wisconsin same-sex couples begin registering under state’s new domestic partnership law

MADISON, Wis. — Same-sex couples in Wisconsin have started signing up for the state’s new domestic partnership registry.

Oshkosh posts 3rd-quarter loss as low demand for construction activity hurts some units

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Vehicle maker Oshkosh Corp. said Thursday it posted a narrower fiscal third-quarter loss amid continued weak demand in segments affected by construction activity

Space travel startup Virgin Galactic gets $280M boost from Abu Dhabi fund buying 32 pct share

OSHKOSH, Wis. — British billionaire Sir Richard Branson signed a deal Tuesday to sell about a third of his space travel startup Virgin Galactic to a Mideast investment fund, giving the venture an influx of cash at a time when the global recession has dried up funding sources.

Wis. panhandler accepts $1 from man, then grabs all of his money and punches him in the face

MADISON, Wis. — Madison police said a panhandler accepted $1 from a good Samaritan, then grabbed the rest of the donor’s cash and punched him in the face. Police said the panhandler approached a 50-year-old man Monday evening and asked for 40 cents. Authorities said the man pulled out $14 and handed $1 to the man. The man allegedly grabbed the entire wad of cash and walked away.

The final frontier: Earthlings get up-close look at Virgin Galactic spaceship launcher

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Hundreds of earthlings turned their faces to the sky Monday to see an airplane built to launch a ship into space, watching the gleaming white craft soar overhead.

Virgin Group chairman hopes to have spaceship ready in time to take parents for a ride

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Virgin Group’s billionaire chairman Richard Branson says he hopes to have a spaceship ready in time to take his 92-year-old father and 89-year-old mother into space with him.

Wis. man who chained 2 men in basement and sexually assaulted them gets 50 years in prison

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. — A Wisconsin paper mill worker has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting two young men he kept chained at his home.

Leader of Wis. religious group gets 2 years in prison for hiding corpse in followers bathroom

MAUSTON, Wis. — The leader of a Wisconsin religious order has been sentenced to two years in prison for hiding a dead follower’s body on a toilet for weeks so he could collect her Social Security payments.

‘Slow and steady’ wins 114-pound circus tortoise a week of freedom after Wisconsin show

MADISON, Wis. — A massive tortoise who left the circus and took his show on the road for six days has been found and is expected to be back with his circus family soon.

Driver of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile goes forward instead backward, crashes into Wis. home

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashes into Wis. home

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wisconsin — One southern Wisconsin homeowner is probably not in love with the Oscar Mayer wiener. The famed hot dog’s Wienermobile crashed Friday into the deck and garage of a home in Mount Pleasant, about 35 miles south of Milwaukee.

Far from Mexico, investigators fight major cocaine operation in the heartland

WATERTOWN, Wis. — In this Midwestern town 1,500 miles from Mexico, in a place that proudly proclaims itself the birthplace of kindergarten, Coco the cocaine kingpin flourished.

Wisconsin court says drunken concert goer did right thing by trying to sleep it off

MADISON, Wis. — An Illinois teen knew he was too drunk to drive home after a Dave Matthews Band concert south of Milwaukee. So he fell asleep in his car, only to be awoken by a state trooper.

Clarification: Congress-National Motto story

MADISON, Wis. — In a story July 14, The Associated Press reported that “In God We Trust” has appeared on U.S. currency since 1957. The motto appeared on paper currency for the first time that year. It first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864.

Police: Military flare sparked blaze that caused $50M in damages to SE Wis. meatpacking plant

CUDAHY, Wis. — Police say a massive fire that gutted part of a southeastern Wisconsin meatpacking plant started when a military flare landed on the roof.

Wisconsin atheist group seeks to block ‘In God We Trust’, pledge engravings at US Capitol

MADISON, Wis. — The nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block an architect from engraving “In God We Trust” and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington.

Man flying US flag upside down in protest says police wrongly seized it July 4

WAUSAU, Wis. — An American flag flown upside down as a protest in a northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July parade and the businessman who flew it — an Iraq war veteran — claims the officers trespassed and stole his property.

UW-Madison says new Google deal will expand public access to library collection

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison says a new agreement with Google will expand public access to its library collection.

Regulators grant Wisconsin utility permission to build wind farm in southern Minnesota

MADISON, Wis. — State regulators gave a Wisconsin utility permission Thursday to begin building a giant wind farm in southern Minnesota, opening the door for Wisconsin ratepayers to shell out millions of dollars in construction costs.

Oscar G. Mayer, retired chairman of Wisconsin-based Oscar Mayer Foods, dead at 95

MADISON, Wis. — Oscar G. Mayer, retired chairman of the Wisconsin-based meat processing company that bears his name, has died at the age of 95.

Large blaze at Wis. meatpacking plant leads to evacuation of surrounding area; no injuries

CUDAHY, Wis. — A large blaze gutted part of a meatpacking plant south of Milwaukee on Monday and authorities warned thousands of area residents to temporarily evacuate because of the possibility of an ammonia explosion.

Firefighters battle large blaze at Wis. meatpacking plant; nearby residents told to leave

CUDAHY, Wis. — Fire crews battled a large blaze at a meatpacking plant south of Milwaukee on Monday, and authorities warned residents within a mile of the plant to leave the area because of the threat of toxic fumes.

Bemis paying $1.2 billion for Alcan Packaging assets, will more than double its debt

NEW YORK — Bemis Co., whose clear plastic packages hold everything from batteries to burgers, said late Sunday it is paying $1.2 billion for the global packaging business of Rio Tinto PLC.

About 100 firefighters battle blaze at Wis. meatpacking plant; nearby residents told to leave

CUDAHY, Wis. — Fire crews battled a large blaze at a meatpacking plant in a crowded suburb south of Milwaukee on Monday, leading authorities to warn residents within a mile of the plant to evacuate the area because of the threat of toxic fumes.

Bedeviled by budgets, states don’t have time, money to keep campaign promises or start reforms

MADISON, Wis. — As lawmakers in cash-strapped states wrestled this year with revenues that kept on falling, both campaign promises and long-standing reform efforts got pushed to the side. There just wasn’t enough time or money to expand health care or improve education — or, in Rhode Island, finally get around to banning indoor prostitution — while also passing a budget.

Matt Kenseth finishes second, Tony Stewart fifth in All-Star Challenge

OREGON, Wis. — Matt Kenseth finished second at his hometown track and Tony Stewart was fifth in a short-track All-Star Challenge at Madison International Speedway on Tuesday night.

Wisconsin tart cherry crop bounces back after near total loss; US production up 30 percent

WAUSAU, Wis. — What a difference a year makes for growing cherries.

Milwaukee man accused of driving drunk on a highway in a golf cart

RICHFIELD, Wis. — A South Milwaukee man was accused of driving drunk after trying to use a golf cart to drive home nearly 40 miles away from the golf course where he had been drinking beer. The Washington County Sheriff’s Department said in a release Monday that the 47-year-old man told deputies his relatives had left him behind at the Kettle Hills Golf Course in Richfield Saturday.

Endangered whooping cranes produce offspring in Wis.; same pair had chick in ‘06 that survived

NECEDAH, Wis. — A pair of whooping cranes that produced a chick in 2006 that now migrates between Florida and Wisconsin has done it again.