January 2019

UPDATE: Shannon Owen, who escaped on Jan. 20 from a Dane County jail aversion program has turned himself in approimately 24 hours after he walked away from a hotel he was staying. Owen gat himself up at the Dane County Jail at :20 p.m. Jan 21.

MADISON–Law enforcement officials in Dane County are asking the public’s help in locating and inmate that escaped January 20 at around 5:30 p.m.

Shannon M. Owen of Madison was going through the county’s jail diversion program, Dane County Custody Alternative Monitoring Program (CAMP),when he walked away from the Grand Stay Hotel, 5317 High Crossing Blvd., on the east side of Madison. He was serving a 60-day Huber sentence for possession of cocaine. 

Authorities say Owen was had a disagreement with management at the hotel before he left. His GPS tracking bracelet showed that he left on foot but was picked up by someone in a vehicle right before the ankle bracelet was removed. It was later recovered.

Middleton’s boys basketball team experienced a tale of two halves on Jan. 12.

The host Cardinals went toe-to-toe with Madison East — the state’s No. 1 ranked team in Division 1 — in the first half of their Big Eight Conference battle and trailed just 28-27 at the break.

The second half, however, belonged to Madison East. The Purgolders put on a defensive clinic and put Middleton in a hole it couldn’t climb out of. 

East switched its defense in the second half, which proved to be too much for Middleton’s offense. The result was East pulled away and notched a 64-47 win.

Middleton fell to 8-5 overall and 5-5 in the Big Eight after losing its second straight game. East improved to 14-0, 10-0.

East won both games against Middleton this season, also winning 62-43 on Nov. 29.

Off nights are no longer an option.

Bad games need to be a thing of the past.

That’s the mindset of Middleton’s girls basketball team, which has great expectations in the second half of the season.

The Cardinals, who are still in the running for a Big Eight Conference title and a No. 1 seed in the postseason, notched a huge win on Jan. 8 that could go a long way towards keeping those dreams alive.

Middleton jumped to an 11-point halftime lead and held off host Madison La Follette, 55-50. The Cardinals improved to 8-2 in the Big Eight Conference, one game behind league-leading Sun Prairie, and are 9-5 overall. The Lancers fell to 7-3, 10-3.

“It was an important one because they had two loses just like we did,” Middleton coach Jeff Kind said. “They are kind of an up and coming team … but we knew this could go a long way toward establishing what might happen with seeding in the tournament.”

MIDDLETON–On one of his first day in office, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes spoke to an auditorium full of 10th graders during a mock legislature event, part of Middleton High School’s (MHS) required U.S. government and politics class. Barnes spoke on the intent of the program which teaches kids about government by acting it out and emphasizes compromise and civility. 

“Change all across the world has always been led by younger generations, so when my time is done, when I’m no longer in public life I want to be able to look back and count on you all and the work you are doing,” Barnes said. “The fact you are learning here today puts you ahead of so many other people in this state and country that have very little idea about how government is run and that’s how we get to a place that we don’t want to be.”