The fire starts from a faulty electrical outlet on a Saturday morning during summer vacation. No one is injured. A massive cleanup means the start of classes is delayed only three weeks until Sept. 10. Owned by Floyd and Pat Zopfi of Hartford, the team tows a wagon in the LaborFest parade. W-2, or Wisconsin Works, starts as a replacement for Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the welfare entitlement program that provided money to households based on the number of children in the homes.
Benefits end after two years.
Locked in contentious contract negotiations with the Janesville School Board since May, local teachers reduce the voluntary work they do at school. Sticking points are local issues, but they are set in a framework of statewide dissatisfaction by teachers over what they see as losses in salary increases and bargaining power because of property-tax control measures instituted by the Legislature and governor. To pay for those raises, teachers without master's degrees and less than 13 years in the district get smaller raises. Voters living in the village pass the referendum by 45 votes, but it loses in the entire district, most of which is populated by farm families and other rural residents, by more than 226 votes. The first referendum was in April 1996.