News from around Wisconsin at 5:28 a.m. CDT

August 8, 2013 at 11:35AM

APPLETON, Wis. — Thunderstorms packing winds of more than 100 mph and two tornadoes caused at least one weather-related fatality, destroyed a church, barns and other buildings and cut power for what could be days to tens of thousands of people in central and northeastern Wisconsin.

"The damage is really devastating," said Lt. Kevin Wickman, of the Brown County Sheriff's Department. "There were rooftops of entire buildings that were blown off. ... There was a top of a silo in the roadway in one location that we didn't even know where it came from."

Gov. Scott Walker scheduled a visit to the area for Thursday morning to see the storm damage. He planned to hold a news conference outside a New London church that was destroyed when a tornado struck.

In Marinette County, Town of Porterfield chairman Eugene LaCombe was killed and 23-year-old Keith Franks was injured when they were struck by a vehicle about 1:40 a.m. Wednesday while clearing storm debris from a road, according to county sheriff's officials.

They were in the southbound lane when they were struck by a 19-year-old from the Town of Porterfield. LaCombe's vehicle was parked in the northbound lane with its headlights and flashers on.

Heavy rain, wind and the glare of headlights from LaCombe's vehicle contributed to the driver not seeing the men, sheriff's officials say. Franks is expected to survive.

The most significant damage was reported in and near the Fox Valley. The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes hit the region, embedded in the straight-line winds. An EF-2 tornado with winds estimated at over 110 mph struck New London in Waupaca County just before 12:30 a.m., all but flattening Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, then continued southeast toward Hortonville, where hundreds of homes sustained damage from snapped and uprooted trees.

NEW LONDON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will visit northeastern Wisconsin on Thursday morning to tour the damage from powerful storms that hit the area.

Walker will speak to reporters afterward at 7:50 a.m. at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in New London, which was destroyed by an EF-2 tornado.

Thunderstorms packing straight-line winds of more than 100 mph and two tornadoes early Wednesday caused at least one weather-related fatality, destroyed the church, barns and other buildings and cut power for what could be days to tens of thousands of people.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Police on Wednesday warned observers of the daily sing-along protest inside the Wisconsin Capitol that they could be arrested just for watching, but hours later a police spokeswoman said only participants would be ticketed.

The warning of observers is a new development in the two-week crackdown on protesters congregating inside the Capitol. Police already have issued more than 175 tickets to people for gathering without a required permit.

"Observers will not receive citations," Stephanie Marquis, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Administration, which oversees Capitol Police, said in an email after Wednesday's protest. She did not explain why warnings were being issued if there were not going to be any arrests and didn't immediately respond to a follow-up question concerning that.

Protesters have assembled inside the Capitol nearly every weekday over the noon hour for more than two years to sing anti-Republican songs that skewer Gov. Scott Walker and others. They sing them to the tune of popular protest songs like "This Land Is Your Land" and "If I Had a Hammer," with rewritten lyrics specific to Wisconsin.

Police began a renewed crackdown on the singers after a federal judge ruled last month that the state could require groups of 20 or more to get a permit to gather inside the Capitol. But participants in the sing along refuse to get a permit, saying they don't need one in order to express their free speech rights.

Police had been targeting only those who were actively singing or participating in the protests on the Capitol's ground level. But this week they started warning observers on the upper floors that they could be arrested as well.

One of those warned was Democratic state Rep. Sondy Pope, of Middleton. She told the Madison weekly newspaper Isthmus that she was threatened with arrest by police on Tuesday. She did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment on Wednesday.

ELKHORN, Wis. (AP) — The Walworth County district attorney has cleared four deputies involved in the fatal shooting of a man who stole a squad car.

District Attorney Daniel Necci issued a report Wednesday saying he determined the officers involved in the June 13 death of Jeremiah Krubert acted properly.

The district attorney concluded that the 39-year-old Elkhorn man was shot when he approached deputies with a shotgun taken from a squad car he had stolen. Krubert stole the car from a deputy who was trying to apprehend him after he beat his mother's boyfriend with a pipe. Krubert refused commands to drop the shotgun. Deputies then opened fire, and Krubert died at the scene.

The autopsy determined that Krubert had used cocaine. His mother told authorities he had a history of mental illness.

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