With
Wisconsin Schools ordered closed starting Wednesday, the staff at the
Durand-Arkansaw School Distirct is working to set up distance
learning for the students. Durand-Arkansaw School Superintendent
Greg Doverspike says there will be distance learning for 3rd
through 12th grades. According
to Doverspike, the district is also working on ways to get school
lunches to those students that need them.
The
city of Mondovi is working on preparation for a possible covid-19
outbreak. On Friday members of the business community, emergency
management, emergency services and the health care community met to
discuss plans of action. Mondovi Mayor Brady Weiss says the meeting
is part of a proactive approach. Weiss
on Friday issued a declaration of instruction for Mondovi residents
regarding the Covi-19 outbreak that include washing hands, staying
home if your sick, avoid large crowds and events and more. Also
Weiss has appointed Doctor Rick Stoughton as the City's Chief Public
Health Officer. That appointment will be discussed and ratified at
the next Common Council meeting.
The
Pepin County Health Department on Sunday is notifying residents
the hospital and clinics in Durand are screening all people
entering the hospital employees,visitors and patients. If you need to
be seen, if at all possible call ahead and as always if going to the
emergency room limit the amount of people you bring with to reduce
exposure. Also the Department is asking people to avoid visitation at the hospital and long term care facilities to protect those most
vulnerable and health care workers.
Altoona
School District Superintendent Daniel Peggs will stand trial on
federal child pornography and sex trafficking a minor charges this
fall. Prosecutors say Peggs enticed a teenager into taking part
in prostitution between October of 2015 and May of 2016, and also
took videos of the same girl engaging in sexual activities.
Peggs has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. A judge
Friday set his trial for October 19th in Madison. He is
currently under house arrest in Oregon. The Altoona School
Board is calling on Peggs to resign and appointed Ron Walsh as
interim superintendent.
Prosecutors
and family members of the four people killed by Colten Treu say they
wish he had received a harsher sentence. The Chippewa County
judge sentenced Treu to 54 years in prison Wednesday. The
father of one of the girl scouts who was killed says he wanted to see
Treu given a life sentence. Twenty-six people spoke at the
hearing asking the judge to impose the strictest sentence possible
under the law. Judge James Isaacson sentenced him to 11 years
in prison for each of the four victims – nine-year-old Jayna
Kelley, 10-year-old Autumn Helgeson, 10-year-old Haylee Hickles and
Haylee’s mother, Sara Schneider.
A
passenger in the pickup that struck and killed three Girl Scouts and
one of their mothers is facing charges in Chippewa County.
Twenty-three-year-old John Stender of Holcombe was charged
today (Friday) with harboring/aiding a felony-falsifying information
and intentionally abusing a hazardous substance. Prosecutors
say Stender was in the truck with Colten Treu in November of 2018
when he hit five people who were cleaning a highway ditch in Lake
Hallie. Treu was sentenced to 54 years in prison this week.
The criminal complaint says Stender remembers seeing one person being
struck by Treua and then he hit his head and lost consciousness.
His next court date in April 7th.
The
Minnesota D-N-R is reporting the first known case of chronic wasting
disease in Dakota County. A wild deer was reported by a
resident near Farmington, and tests found that the deer was positive
for C-W-D. The deer was located about 100 miles away from
the state’s primary area of chronic wasting disease activity near
Preston. Officials credited an informed citizen for calling the
D-N-R to have the deer removed.
Triple-A
says the drop in Wisconsin gasoline prices is a side-effect of lesser
demand due to the coronavirus outbreak. GasBuddy calls this the
most significant drop in oil prices since the 1990s. The
average price for a gallon of gas in Wisconsin is two dollars, 19
cents - but GasBuddy reports Kwik Trip locations in
north-central parts of the state are at a buck-99.
Basketball
star Karl-Anthony Towns announced Sunday he would donate $100,000 to
Mayo Clinic to enhance their ability to detect COVID-19. Officials at
the clinic say the donation from the Timberwolves big man is expected
to increase Mayo's testing capacity from 200 tests per day to
one-thousand tests per-day in the weeks ahead. Mayo announced late
last week they finished development on a COVID-19 test and submitted
it to the F-D-A for review and emergency use authorization.
After
hours of negotiation between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White
House, the U-S House of Representatives gave its overwhelming support
to an eight-billion-dollar coronavirus relief package Saturday.
The final vote was 363-to-40. President Donald Trump has
indicated he will sign the bill into law, but it hasn’t been
scheduled for a vote in the U-S Senate yet. Four members of the
Wisconsin Congressional delegation voted against the measure –
Republicans Bryan Steil, James Sensenbrenner, Mike Gallagher and
Glenn Grothman.
The
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is conducting an immediate
response to the capture of 51 invasive carp on the Mississippi
River. The invasive carp were caught by two commercial fishing
operators near La Crosse and Trempealeau, Wisconsin, during routine
spring netting last weekend. There were 39 silver carp and 11
grass carp just south of La Crosse and one silver carp caught about
20 miles upstream. No breeding populations have been detected
in Minnesota waters to date. The D-N-R is working with U-S Fish
and Wildlife Service, the U-S Geological Survey, the Wisconsin D-N-R
and commercial fishing operators to conduct large-scale netting,
studies of the captured carp and increased monitoring.
A
Rochester woman has reached a plea agreement for her role in a
September 2018 shooting death. Thirty-five-year-old Kielah
Parsons entered an Alford plea to aiding an offender - accomplice
after the fact in the killing of 38-year-old Brandon Arndt. The
deal calls for the dismissal of second-degree murder charges.
Prosecutors say Parsons was with 28-year-old Malcom Woods when he
fatally shot Arndt at the front door of his mobile home. Woods
was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life. Trial
for a third defendant is in June.
The
Public Service Commission of Wisconsin is directing water, electric
and natural gas utilities to cease disconnecting residential
service for nonpayment until the state public health emergency has
been lifted. The P-S-C also said utilities must make reasonable
attempts to reconnect service to an occupied dwelling that has been
disconnected. This comes after Governor Tony Evers declared a
public health emergency to enhance the state’s response to
COVID-19. Wisconsin is currently under a winter moratorium on
disconnections of water, electric, and natural gas service when used
for home heating. The moratorium runs until April 15th and
would typically allow for disconnections for nonpayment to resume.
That moratorium would be extended for all service until the public
health emergency is lifted.
Wisconsin
Attorney General Josh Kaul has announced a settlement with the
merging cell phone companies T-Mobile and Sprint. The dead
means customers in this state should be able to keep at least a part
of their phone plans. In addition to continuing T-Mobile plans
for at least two years, the agreement requires the new combined
company to provide low-cost plans and low-cost internet access to
Wisconsin’s lower-income families. Kaul was one of several
attorneys general who tried to stop the merger, but a judge ruled
against the effort.
Minnesota
Attorney General Keith Ellison is urging Minnesotans to be careful of
scams that exploit people's concerns about coronavirus. Ellison
says beware of scammers setting up websites to sell bogus products
like fake COVID-19 vaccine, and using fake e-mails, texts, social
media posts to deceptively solicit donations for victims. He
says e-mail scammers are also impersonating government agencies like
the C-D-C, trying to get people's personal information. He
recommends not clicking on links from unknown sources and getting
updated information directly from the source like the Minnesota
Department of Health. Anyone with concerns should call the
A-G's office.
Information
about the 2020 U-S Census is arriving in mailboxes across Wisconsin.
Every ten years, the census determines the official population of the
nation. It also dictates how many congressional representatives each
state will get, and how federal funding for things like
infrastructure and schools gets distributed. The census is required
by the Constitution and responses are required by law.
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