Only two people turned in candidate papers for 3 seats on the Durand City Council. In Ward 2, Robert Weisapple and in Ward 3 current council member Matt Roesler turned in papers by the deadline Tuesday. With no one running in Ward One, Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says someone could run as a registered write-in candidate. The three council seats are all up for election this spring.
Wisconsin legislators were sworn in this week for the new legislative session. Rep. Warren Petryk will chair the Assembly Committee on Workforce Development and Economic Opportunities. He will also be serving on the Committees on Energy and Utilities, Financial Institutions, Insurance, Labor and Integrated Employment, and Veterans and Military Affairs.
Residents across Western Wisconsin are encouraged to visit the Federal Communications Website by January 13 and check to make sure their address has the correct information regarding broadband coverage. The coverage information maps are intended to assist the FCC in determining how much Wisconsin will receive from the $42 Billion in federal Broadband Grants from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. If the broadband coverage information is incorrect for your address, you can change it on the website. The website is broadbandmap.fcc.gov.
There's another big jump in Wisconsin gas prices. Triple-A says the statewide average went up nine cents overnight to three dollars and eleven cents a gallon for regular. That's also up over 20 cents from this time last week. Here in Western Wisconsin, gas sits at 3.19 a gallon which is up 20 cents from last week.
They are hiring at the Eau Claire County Highway Department. The county says it needs six new, full-time snow plow drivers. Highway Commissioner Jon Johnson says they have 45 drivers right now. He says they've been trying to hire a half dozen new drivers since November. Johnson says they simply don't have the staff to keep up with all of the miles they need to plow.
Wisconsin hasn't seen any Republican defections in the fight over a new House Speaker. All of Wisconsin's Republican members of Congress continue to vote for Kevin McCarthy for speaker. McCarthy lost another round of votes yesterday, 20 Republicans continue to hold out. Newly elected western Wisconsin Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden yesterday said he's encouraging all Republicans to support McCarthy and 'right this ship.'
A Rochester woman is learning her fate after admitting to helping her husband start fires during 2020 protests. Twenty-four-year-old Mena Dhaya Yousif was sentenced by a federal judge on Tuesday. This comes after Yousif pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact. She received a sentence of three years of probation. Her husband has already been sentenced to over six years in prison for his role in starting the fires.
Life in prison for a man convicted in a fatal ax attack A Monroe County judge on Wednesday sentenced 38-year-old Thomas Wayne Aspseter to life without the possibility of extended supervision. Aspseter was convicted in September for the June 2021 ax murder of an elderly man in Monroe. According to the criminal complaint, Aspseter had broken into a residence. He was found by homeowner Bernard Waite, who was with his brother and sister-in-law and asked Aspseter to leave. Shortly after that, Aspseter attacked the three elderly people with an ax, killing Bernard Waite and injuring Michael and Margaret Waite. Aspseter was later hospitalized for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He's been jailed since his release from medical care.
One of Wisconsin's largest dairy co-ops says a new farm bill and new regulations to their to-do and to-don't list for 2023. The Edge Dairy Cooperative has six things on its national priorities list for the new year. Pushing back against regulations that the co-op says will hurt farmers is top of the list. The co-op says farmers need to have a say in any environmental policy that will impact farms in this country. Edge managers also want to see a new farm bill passed this year, and would love to see a truth-in dairy law passed so that milk, cheese, and other dairy items are protected from non-animal-based alternatives.
One of Governor Evers' first tasks of his new term was a sit-down with the mayors of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Green Bay, and Kenosha. The governor met with them all separately yesterday. The mayors represent Wisconsin's five largest cities, and the mayors are also Democrats like the governor. The governor's office says they talked about how to 'invest' in local governments. Governor Evers has made getting more state money for local governments one of his top priorities for the new year.
Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota are prioritizing a childcare tax credit this legislative session. The expanded credit would give parents 15 hundred dollars for each child five and older, up to three thousand dollars. Parents would also get five-thousand dollars for each child under the age of five, up to 12-thousand five-hundred dollars. Democrats say parents with no taxable income would be able to receive the credits because they are considered refundable.
Hundreds of union workers who've been on strike for months at Case New Holland plants in Racine and Burlington, Iowa will be voting soon on a contract offer. Paul Iverson of the University of Iowa Labor Center says this is the first time the United Auto Workers has brought an offer up for a vote. About 600 workers at the CNH plant in Racine and 400 in Burlington went on strike May 2nd, seeking better pay and health care benefits as well as more flexibility in scheduling time off. The UAW describes the proposal as the company's "upgraded last, best and final offer."
Appleton’s new police chief Polly Olson is the first woman to lead the department. Olson was sworn in with a Tuesday morning ceremony at the Appleton Police Department. Olson has been on the police force since 2001, first as a patrol officer. She’s also served as a school resource officer, patrol captain, and captain of investigations and support services, and she became assistant chief in May 2021.
A 22-year-old man was found dead in his car with a gunshot wound to his chest following an altercation at a residence in the Marathon County Town of Elderon early Tuesday. Marathon County Sheriff Chad Billeb said police responded to the residence at 2:37 a.m. A 79-year-old man was stabbed in the face and during the incident with the 22-year-old, grabbed and fired a handgun. The 22-year-old fled the house with the gun. Billeb said the younger man was found dead in a vehicle nearby.
A 14-year-old from Madison is in custody after leading police on a New Year’s Day pursuit that reaches speeds of 115 miles per hour. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office says when deputies responded to reports of vehicles being rummaged through in Lodi Township, two suspicious vehicles were spotted and immediately fled from the scene. The high-speed pursuit then ensued on I-90/94 and continued over a span of 15 miles. It concluded when one of the vehicles exited the interstate near DeForest and struck a light post. The 14-year-old who was the driver and lone occupant of the vehicle was apprehended and later placed into custody. Deputies search the crashed vehicle, which was stolen, and found several firearms and a surplus of ammunition.
No injuries are being reported after a jet slid off the taxiway at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last night. Nearly 150 passengers were on the Delta Airlines aircraft when it veered off the pavement shortly after touching down from Mexico around 6:30 p.m. An hour later, MSP closed all its runways due to freezing drizzle. Flights resumed shortly after crews cleared the runways.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is extending the public comment period on its Wolf Management Plan. The DNR says you can read the draft plan on its website and comment on it until February 28th. The DNR says the plan hasn't been updated since 2017 and Wisconsin's wolf population has changed since then.
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