Local-Regional News May 21

The Durand-Arkansaw School District is having to prepare for a possible drop in the budget. During last nights board meeting, Superintendent Greg Doverspike told the members there are three possible scenarios.   If the $50 per pupil decrease happens, the budget would have a $300,000 deficit. Another complicating factor according to Doverspike is any state budget repair bill that affects school budgets may not be passed until after the November election, which would be in the middle of the school year.

The Pepin County Health Department has issued a health alert due to the covid 19 pandemic. Pepin County Health Officer Heidi Stewart said the department wanted to put something in writing so the public had some guidance.  The health alert gives residents suggestions on how to protect themselves from the covid 19 and also gives businesses suggestions on ways to keep customers and employees safe. The suggestions are voluntary.

The Pepin County Government Center will remain closed due to the covid 19 pandemic. During last nights Pepin County Board meeting, members approved a plan that would keep the center closed to the public, until at least July 1^st, when it would be re-evaluated. While the building is closed, county services will continue and if a resident does need to have a face to face meeting with a department, they can call that department to make an appointment.

Convicted killer Colten Treu has been sentenced to another 110 days in jail on drug charges.  Treu is already serving 54 years in prison for being high when he caused a wreck that killed members of a Girl Scout group cleaning up the roadside.  That was in Chippewa County.  Treu was being prosecuted in Rusk County this time after he admitted he was smoking pot before wrecking a company truck.  Drugs were found in that truck.  He will serve the drug sentence concurrently with the much-longer sentence for four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle.

Wisconsin farmers will be eligible for a direct payment program from the state, for coronavirus relief. Governor Tony Evers confirmed Wednesday afternoon he will take 50-million dollars from the 1.9 billion given to the state in the CARES Act to use for the direct payments, plus another 15 million dollars to assist food security efforts. Eligible farmers will be asked to apply for the aid through the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, which is working in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Farm support payments could begin arriving as early as June. The 50-million is exactly what eight Wisconsin farm organizations requested from Evers in an April 21st letter.

Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind and fellow Wisconsin Democrats Mark Pocan and Gwen Moore, want to allocate four million dollars to expand USDA's existing milk donation program. The USDA’s current Milk Donation program requires dairy farmers to seek out food banks and apply for reimbursements to cover expenses. The Farmer’s MILK Act would give USDA authority to pair up dairy producers that have excess supply with food banks in need.

An online economic tracker reports consumer spending is down 19-point-four percent in Wisconsin during the coronavirus pandemic.  Opportunity Insights finds major drops in grocery, entertainment, restaurants, apparel and health care.  The Badger State’s trend is very near the national average at 20 percent.  The researchers came up with the figures by comparing spending in January to April’s activity.

Wisconsin’s national cemeteries will be strangely quiet on Memorial Day – the day set aside to honor veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice.  The Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t allowing public gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The department is prohibiting public events at national cemeteries.  It says each V-A cemetery will have a brief wreath-laying ceremony to honor veterans and service members only.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is allowing bars and restaurants, hair salons, tattoo parlors and campgrounds to re-open June 1st under some restrictions.  Outdoor dining will only be allowed at Minnesota bars and restaurants by appointment, with a six-foot social distance between tables and at a 50-percent capacity limit.  Restaurant workers must wear masks and customers are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings.  Barber shops, hair salons, and tattoo parlors can operate at 25-percent capacity and workers and patrons are required to wear masks.  Walz says the phased re-opening is based on science and designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Republican legislative leaders claim Minnesota Governor Walz's phased re-opening of some businesses June 1st discriminates against Minnesota churches.  House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt questioned why churches are limited to ten people outdoors while hundreds of people can gather in the aisles of big-box stores.  Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelks said, "I am growing more concerned there is a targeted effort to keep churches closed." Gazelka says he hopes the federal courts will intervene.  Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis Bernard Hebda wants to give Catholic parishes the option of re-opening May 26th under strict protocols for social distancing and at one-third of seating capacity.

 Meat shortages caused by the coronavirus pandemic could mean some families won’t have hot dogs this upcoming holiday weekend.  Usinger’s Famous Sausage in Milwaukee says it has run out of beef for the dogs.  The company says there aren’t enough processing plants operating at full capacity to meet demand.  Industry experts say production is probably at about 75 percent of capacity right now.  The national beef shortage has caused prices to reach record-high levels.

State health officials say most of the patients who have tested positive for coronavirus are now fee to return to their jobs.  The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports the state’s recovery rate is almost 60 percent.  More than seven thousand people have been cleared after testing positive.  Another five thousand are still within the 30-day diagnosis window, meaning they haven’t officially recovered from the virus.  The D-H-S says 467 people have died from the coronavirus during the pandemic.

 The Door County Public Health Department has issued new guidelines people need to follow if they want to travel to the tourist spot for Memorial Day.  The county is re-opening, but with restrictions.  Local officials are asking visitors to maintain social distancing and wear face masks.  Door County is also seeking a limit on travel, but it’s not clear what that might mean for the local tourism industry.  It depends on visiting people from out of the northeastern Wisconsin area to survive.

The State of Wisconsin will use more than a billion dollars in federal money to pay for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and emergency operations during the pandemic.  Governor Tony Evers says the effort will be funding by the CARES Act.  Tuesday, Evers said, “Wisconsin’s Safer at Home order may have ended, but our all-out war on the virus has not.”  State officials want to test increasing numbers of Wisconsin residents and expand a contact tracing program.  Fifty-two Wisconsin labs are said to be capable of analyzing 13 thousand COVID-19 tests-a-day.

 Thousands of Wisconsin residents can’t pay their bills and, in many cases, can’t even buy food as they wait for their first unemployment check.  Officials with the Department of Workforce Development confirm more than 675 thousand claims are still unpaid.  The Safer at Home order resulted in more than two million claims since mid-March.  The state agency has been overwhelmed.  The numbers don’t include people who haven’t been able to get through to make a claim.  D-W-D is still promising unemployment recipients will get their back pay, but it isn’t known how long that might take.

Target Corporation is reporting a big spike in sales in the first quarter - but also a large drop in profits.  The Minnesota-based retailer says sales grew ten-point-eight percent and total revenue rose more than 11 percent to 19-point-six-billion dollars.  Online sales during the COVID-19 pandemic were up 141 percent - and a whopping 282 percent in April.  Target says while sales were on the rise, profits fell more than 64 percent to 284-million dollars.  C-E-O Brian Cornell said that "Q1 was unlike anything we’ve seen in Target's long history."  Food and digital sales have lower profit margin than apparel and other items.  The company also gave employees a two dollar-an-hour pay increase for working during the outbreak.

The head of Wisconsin's insurance commission says that all COVID-19 testing must be covered under private insurance. That ruling was issued on Tuesday by Commissioner Mark Afable. He says that anyone who has been charged for those tests, either as part of separate testing or as a visit to a doctor's office, should contact their insurer and contest the charges. That includes trips to the emergency room or to an urgent care clinic. The ruling is part of the federal COVID-19 laws like the CARES Act.

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism is launching two new online games to entertain people staying home during the pandemic. The Ultimate Wisconsin Fishing Game lets players choose one of Wisconsin's lakes to fish in, and learn about the species. The other is a matching game. Match It! Wisconsin challenges players to beat the clock and flip over cards to find matching pairs. Both games can be found at travel-wisconsin-dot-com.