Part of the restructuring of the pay for Durand Police Officers is the ending of officers being on call. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says it was getting harder to ask officers to stay on call after working a 12hr shift. The Pepin County Sheriff's Department will cover the time when Durand Officers were on call. The changes take effect on January 1st.
September 16th was important for school districts across Wisconsin for their budgets. The 16th was the third Friday of the month and districts had to submit their school attendance to the Department of Public Instruction, which will use those numbers for allocating state aid to the districts. It's part of a complicated funding formula for public schools in Wisconsin. Durand Arkansaw School Superintendent Greg Doverspike says while many agree the formula needs to be looked at, there are many good options. Districts will have another third Friday attendance report to submit in January.
The sheriff in Chippewa County says they've found a missing 15-year-old girl, and have caught the man they say she was with. The sheriff's office yesterday canceled the AMBER Alert for Kryssy King. She went missing Friday night, deputies say she was with 22-year-old Trevor Blackburn. He was caught in Superior late last night. The sheriff's office says he is no longer considered a threat. No one is saying what charges could be filed in the case.
An Augusta man faces 20 drug and gun charges after his arrest. Michael Hazard is accused of making and delivering cocaine, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Officers say they found 33 guns and some drugs during a search of his property Tuesday. They say Hazard told them he didn’t sell cocaine to make money – he only wanted to “put good drugs on the street.” W-Q-O-W/T-V reports if he is convicted on all the charges he faces Hazard could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Jury selection gets underway today (Monday) for the man accused of killing six people in the crowd at last year’s Waukesha Christmas Parade. Sixty others were injured. Forty-year-old Darrell Brooks Junior is representing himself. Brooks faces dozens of charges in the November 2021 incident where he is accused of driving an S-U-V through the crowd in Waukesha. Prosecutors have alleged he fired his public defenders in an effort to delay the trial. We’ll find out later today if it worked.
Wisconsin and Minnesota have joined the federal government and ten other states in an anti-trust lawsuit against Syngenta and Corteva, alleging those pesticide manufacturers of using "loyalty programs" with distributors to keep generic competitors out of the market. Attorney General Keith Ellison says ag producers aren't the only people hurt by what he labels "corporate profiteering." Ellison says they also hurt communities by driving people out of business or squeezing the profit margins of small farmers.
A Missouri man who now admits shooting two Wisconsin brothers to death has dodged the death penalty. Garland “Joey” Nelson pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in Cass County, Missouri court this morning. Nelson will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing Nick and Justin Diemel on his mother’s farm in July 2019. During Friday’s hearing, Nelson admitted to shooting the brothers, burning their bodies, then disposing of the remains. Cass County Circuit Judge Michael Wagner sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Wisconsin is spending over 16-million dollars to help keep families warm this winter. Governor Tony Evers announced Friday that 16-point-six-million dollars is being split between the Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program and the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund, to help Wisconsin families with their heating costs. State residents can apply for the energy assistance online at energybenefit.wi.gov.
It's the latest sign of just how much school kids in Wisconsin lost during the coronavirus. The state's Department of Public Instruction yesterday released the scores for Wisconsin's standardized tests from last year, and they are not good. Not even 40 percent of kids are proficient in reading, writing, or math. While math scores increased a tiny bit, reading and writing scores fell. To make matters worse, last year's scores are well below the test scores from before the coronavirus shut down schools and sent kids to learn from home. The state says there are "signs of recovery," but education watchdogs say it's tough to make that case when 60 percent of school kids in the state cannot read, write, or add at grade level.
A Wisconsin carjacking suspect has been arrested in Bayfield County after a week on the run. Twenty-three-year-old Seth Genereau was taken into custody Thursday at about 1:00 p-m. W-B-A-Y/T-V reports he’s accused of taking a car in Clintonville, then driving to northwestern Wisconsin where he stole another vehicle – before running away into a wooded area near Washburn. Genereau allegedly took a minivan driven by an 81-year-old Michigan man at a gas station. That victim is said to be recovering from the injuries he suffered.
It’s not just Dr. Fred Prehn at The Natural Resources Board. Three members of the Wisconsin Technical College System board are also refusing to step down. Their terms ended more than a year ago and Governor Tony Evers has nominated six people to take their seats. The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate hasn’t confirmed them. Three of the six are serving on the board because three people appointed by former Governor Scott Walker did step down. Dozens of people appointed to boards by the Democrat Evers are still waiting.
An executive order signed by Minnesota Governor Walz waives state trucking regulations to help prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza. This bird flu poses a high risk to Minnesota’s poultry industry. The governor’s office says poultry growers and associations requested immediate help to support the safe and efficient movement of commodities used in avian influenza emergency response efforts. The waiving of weight restriction enforcement and hours of service requirements are expected to help with depopulation efforts and transportation of uninfected animals to processing facilities. The state ranks number one in turkey production.
Deer hunters can assist the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to track the spread of CWD. Testing deer for Chronic Wasting Disease provides the agency with data to understand the distribution of CWD and monitor the health of Wisconsin's deer herd. It also keeps hunters informed about the status of their harvest. Testing proper carcass disposal and following baiting and feeding regulations are three key ways to slow the spread of CWD. More information is available on the DNR webpage.
More than 60 volunteers for the American Red Cross in the Midwest are helping with aid in areas impacted by Hurricane Ian. Red Cross spokesperson Sue Thesenga says their first priority is providing shelter -- making sure that people have a safe and warm place to stay if they’ve been evacuated or find themselves without a place to go. Thesenga says you can help by visiting red-cross-dot-org, or by calling one 1-800-Red-Cross, or texting the word in to nine-zero-nine-nine-nine to make a ten-dollar donation.
Unionized workers a Wisconsin John Deere plant overwhelmingly voted to ratify a four-year contract with the global farm equipment maker. The contract covers 900 workers of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at the John Deere Horicon Works plant. It was passed with over 80 percent voting to ratify the deal. Terms were not disclosed. The plant produces Deere’s Gator utility vehicles and lawn tractors. Negotiations between the two parties began in July to replace the current agreement that is due to expire.
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