Free Republic

Audrey vanished in 1962 after a babysitter said they took a bus from Madison to Indianapolis. She was never seen again, until she resurfaced 60 years later at age 82A woman who vanished 60 years ago has been found alive at the age of 82, leaving her family and authorities stunned. Audrey Backberg, who disappeared from her Wisconsin home in 1962, has resurfaced, claiming she has “no regrets" about her decision. Audrey was just 20 years old when she vanished. Her disappearance led to a frantic search by her family and local police, which eventually turned into a ‘cold...

A Wisconsin woman who disappeared more than 60 years ago has been found alive by authorities. Audrey Backeberg left her Reedsburg home in July 1962 when she was 20 years old, a press release from the Sauk County Sheriff's Office said. During a review of cold cases earlier this year, a detective reassessed the initial evidence and re-interviewed several witnesses, Sheriff Chip Meister said in the release. Law enforcement departments across the country have been reviewing cold cases with the aid of new DNA technology, including the self-submit websites such as Ancestry.com. As such sites have expanded, so have the...

Three years after a presidential election that came down to 77,000 votes in three Midwestern battlegrounds, Democrats and Republicans are eyeing a much larger battlefield ahead of the 2020 contests, one that stretches from the picturesque coastline of rural Maine to the high desert of Arizona. Both President Trump’s campaign and the Democrats vying to replace him are scrutinizing a political map in flux, one in which attitudes and alignments are shifting and new regions are coming into play.As many as a dozen states could be up for grabs next year as economic and international uncertainty pairs with a cauldron...

Raw-milk proponents celebrated a Wisconsin farmer's acquittal on three of four counts related to selling unpasteurized milk and cheese, bolstering their hopes of legalizing the products in America's Dairyland. Jurors found Vernon Hershberger, a 41-year-old Loganville, Wis., farmer, innocent of producing milk without a license, selling milk and cheese products without a license, and operating a retail establishment without a license. He was found guilty of one count of breaking a holding order issued by the state in June 2010, which barred him from moving any of the food he produced without a license. The verdict means Mr. Hershberger can...