Local-Regional News March 12

The Durand City Council passed a resolution on opening the pool at Tarrant Park for 2020. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says there are parameters regarding the operating of the pool including spending no more than $10000 on expenses beyond the typical annual maintenance.  Other parameters include having enough life guard staff hired by May 15, and if the city cannot maintain minimum water quality standards, the pool will then be closed.

The Mondovi City Council has decided to look at alternative options for security cameras for city parks. At this weeks council meeting, members were concerned that the cameras should be installed, especially with all of the improvements at Mirror Lake, but the cost of $11,000 was deemed to be too expensive. The council is wanting to explore other options for the cameras before moving forward with that project.

A public hearing will be held in Mondovi on April 14^th. The meeting is being called to get the public's input on a new mission statement for the city. The statement is needed for certain grant opportunities. A copy of the draft statement is available at Mondovi City Hall. That meeting will be held at 6:30pm, April 14^th at Mondovi City Hall.

UW Stout has announced that in-person classes are being canceled from March 23-April 5. The University says that while classes will continue it will not be in person but through on-line. The University also has canceled events with attendance over 50 from March 15 through April 15^th. A decision on classes moving forward will be done sometime after April 5. In person classes have also been canceled at UW-La Crosse while at UW-Eau Claire, face to face classes will continue but attendance policies are being suspended.

The Chippewa County man convicted in a hit-and-run crash that killed three Girls Scout and one of their mothers will spend 54 years in prison.  Colten Treu was sentenced today (Wednesday) to 54 years of confinement and 45 years of extended supervision.  Treu admitted to huffing aerosol before he struck and killed ten-year-old Haylee Hickle, 32-year-old Sara Jo Schneider, nine-year-old Jayne Kelly, and ten-year-old Autumn Helgeson in November of 2018.  Treu apologized to the victims' families in court saying, "I'm sorry for the pain and suffering...you have every right to hate me."  Twenty-eight people gave victim impact statements in support of the Girls Scouts and Schneider.

 The University of Minnesota was hoping to set attendance records when it hosts the 2020 N-C-A-A Wrestling Championships next week.  That was before N-C-A-A President Mark Emmert announced that fans will not be allowed into any championship events this month due to coronavirus.  That includes Division I wrestling March 19th through 21st at U-S Bank Stadium - home of the Minnesota Vikings.   It's the first time the event is being held in a football stadium and the Gopher athletic department said: "attendance records were expected to be set."  College staff and families of wrestlers will only be allowed in the stadium to watch the tournament.

The Minnesota Department of Health is reporting a fourth and fifth case of COVID-19 in the state and both appear related to international travel.  M-D-H spokeswoman Kris Ehresmann says the fourth presumptive case is a resident in their 50's in Olmsted County who experienced symptoms at work.  The fifth case involves a Ramsey County resident in their 30's.  Ehresmann says that person had no community contacts, only household contacts.  She says the Anoka County patient remains in critical condition and apparently had no underlying medical conditions.  The other two cases are in Carver and Ramsey County.

Clark County officials from the health department, law enforcement agencies and school districts discussed underage drinking at a town hall meeting Tuesday night.  Numbers from a Youth Risk Behavior Study found more than one-fourth of Clark County high school students said they drank alcohol at least once in the last 30 days.  Nineteen percent of seventh and eighth graders made the same admission.  Those leaders discussed possible ways to improve the situation.  Similar meetings took place in other Wisconsin counties.

 University of Wisconsin-Madison is suspending in-person classes for at least three weeks.  U-W today requested that around 78-hundred students move out of Madison residence halls when spring break begins at the end of this week, and to stay off campus at least through April 10th.  All campus events with more than 50 people, including those sponsored outside of Dane County, are canceled.  Limited exceptions may be granted by deans or vice chancellors.  Campus will remain open and all faculty and staff should continue their regular work schedules unless advised otherwise by their supervisor.  U-W Madison said on Twitter, "Our health partners tell us that now is the best time to act in ways that slow the spread."  UW-Green Bay also announced today that it will not hold in-person classes between March 23rd and March 28th.  Classes will be "taught via alternative" delivery methods

 An Oneida County judge has released the Rhinelander city administrator on a signature bond.  Prosecutors are moving forward on a misconduct case against Dan Guild.  It’s connected to an open records request from a local newspaper concerning the firing of a former public works director for the city.  Guild made a court appearance Tuesday and he is scheduled to return to that courtroom before the end of the month.

A coalition of ag groups will be at the Capitol today (Thursday), as they hope to convince the state Senate to approve a package of bills to aid Wisconsin farmers and processors. Rebekah Sweeney is with the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.   The bills were approved by the Assembly last month. The state Senate plans to meet just once more later this month, before ending its session for the year.

Nine out of 10 students in the Wisconsin Class of 2019 completed their high school education in four years.  The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction reports that continues an upward swing.  The graduation rate was 88-point-six percent in 2017, 89-point-six percent in 2018 and now 90 percent.  The report from State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor’s office finds improvements among the smaller subgroups of students – like blacks, Hispanics and those learning to speak English.