The Durand Police Department has received a $7000 Safer Community Grant and a $1000 donation from Kwik Trip. During last night's council meeting, Chief Ridgeway said the money would be used to purchase a new evidence computer, 6 new active threat vests for officers, and a 2yr subscription to I Crime Fighter, a cloud-based storage program that will allow officers to easily upload squad car and body cam videos and crime scene pictures.
It looks like Wisconsin gas prices may be going back down. According to Triple-A, the statewide average is down one cent from this time last week to three dollars and ten cents a gallon. Here in Western Wisconsin, the average is down six-cents from last week at three-thirteen a gallon. Triple-A says the holiday spike in gas prices seems to be stalling and prices will likely start going back down.
Hwy 25 between Durand and Nelson was closed for a few hours yesterday after multiple semis became disabled due to the icy roads. Due to the semis blocking the road, it was decided to close the road until the semis could be removed. The road was cleared with help from the Buffalo County Highway Department, and Polzer Brothers Towing.
The State Patrol is hoping for a better day today after icy roads and accidents closed I-94 for hours yesterday. The interstate was closed in both directions between Tomah and Millston for nearly 11hrs after a crash early yesterday morning. Troopers were able to clear the scene by yesterday evening, but the delay caused all manner of traffic problems.
Blame the winter weather. Kids in Chippewa Falls schools will be going to school a little longer this summer because of the winter weather. Chippewa Falls Superintendent Jeff Holmes sent a note home to parents yesterday explaining that they are adding two days to the calendar in June, as well as another day in April, to make up for lost days this winter. Holmes says Chippewa Falls Schools can't count on remote learning like some school districts. He said he'll let parents know if they need to add any more days in the future.
We now know the name of a Lucky Megabucks winner. Mark Cunningham, a regular player of the Wisconsin-only lotto game purchased a $15.1 million winning Megabucks ticket from Wayne's Food Plus in Luck, for the January 4th drawing. Cunningham came to the Wisconsin Lottery office in Madison on Monday to claim his winning ticket. "Dreams really do come true," said Cunningham, whose prize is the largest Megabucks jackpot since a $22.2 million prize in 2015.
John Deere and one of the country's largest farm lobby groups have reached a deal on right to repair. The American Farm Bureau Federation brokered a deal that will allow farmers and independent repair shops to work on John Deere equipment, without having to have official technicians examine the machine. UW Madison ag professor Brian Luck says that was a sticking point for the company. Company officials say they will offer quote fair and reasonable terms to access those tools, but prices have not been laid out at this time.
The top Republican in the State Assembly says there's no path to legal, recreational marijuana in Wisconsin. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos yesterday said while he supports a medical marijuana program, he is not looking to create a pathway to fully legalize the drug. Vos said he's not looking to create a pot industry, or try to find new money for the state. Both Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu have said they could support a medical-only marijuana program with strict regulations that makes sure people in chronic pain don't have to live in pain.
There's another push to end Wisconsin's personal property tax. A pair of Republican lawmakers, state Senator Duey Stroebel and state Rep. Dan Knodl, have a new piece of legislation that would end the state's tax on certain things that businesses buy. Stroebel says the personal property tax is a drain on small businesses and is one of the business communities' most hated taxes. Knodl says there is no reason for the tax to exist. Lawmakers have suggested ending the tax in the past, but it has survived.
Minnesota lawmakers are considering a measure that would make free student meals standard in the state. The proposal would require the Minnesota Department of Education to reimburse districts for the cost of serving breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of family income. The move would essentially reinstate the pandemic-era federal program that paid for school meals. School nutrition advocacy group Hunger Solutions says one in six students in Minnesota experience food insecurity.
Minnesota residents have one last chance to get free COVID tests from the government. The state Department of Health announced its phasing out the program in a news release yesterday. However, all households can order a final round of free, at-home rapid tests on M-N-dot-gov-slash-COVID-19.
Cargill's chief financial officer is stepping down. The Minnetonka-based agribusiness announced Jamie Miller's resignation yesterday, saying she is taking a role at another company. Miller joined Cargill in June 2021 and was the company's first female CFO. The chain's vice president of finance will step in as acting CFO during the transition.
Cigarette sales in Wisconsin plummeted over the past 20 years. That is according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum...which cites higher taxes and smoking bans as leading causes for the decline, although the reports also note a growth in the vaping industry. The number of packs of cigarettes purchased in the state dropped from 420 million in 2001 to just under 193 million in 2022. On a per capita basis, more than 32 packs of cigarettes were sold per resident in 2022 compared with nearly 78 in 2001.
A state lawmaker is urging rural residents to challenge inaccurate broadband information on federal coverage maps. Senator Howard Marklein says people need to verify the accuracy of Federal Communications Commission maps showing rural broadband availability and speeds. They have until January 13 to go into the maps and take a look at them and see if the service that the FCC has for your location is what they have on their maps. Wisconsin is scheduled to get more than 1.1 billion in federal broadband dollars. Marklein says the federal dollars will be spent in areas based on need as indicated by the FCC maps, and he’s concerned some rural areas will be left out because of errors.
A former employee at a central Wisconsin high school has agreed to a plea deal after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. In October of 2021, police in Greenwood were notified of a possible inappropriate relationship between a student and 26-year-old Dylan North, who had worked as a part of the support staff at Greenwood High School. Court documents say there were two victims involved. An investigation led to uncovered messages and call time stamps on North’s phone which were used as evidence. North was placed on paid leave in November of 2021. He resigned the following January. North pleads no contest to sexual assault of a student by school staff. Three other charges were dismissed.
Workers in two of Wisconsin’s signature industries report high levels of happiness and low levels of stress. Agriculture, logging, and forestry have the highest levels of self-reported happiness — and lowest levels of self-reported stress — of any major industry category, according to a Washington Post analysis of thousands of time journals from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey. A deeper dive revealed that where that work takes place - namely the great outdoors - had a lot to do with higher happiness and lower stress. Logging and farming are also among the most hazardous employment sectors, and those workers also report the highest levels of pain on the job.
Minnesota officials say there has been an increase in deadly snowmobile accidents statewide. Six people have died over the last ten days. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reports that the number of snowmobile deaths in the state is the same amount recorded all of last winter. They say the use of alcohol and drugs as well as excessive speed are the biggest factors in crashes.
No comments:
Post a Comment