Local-Regional News June 26

With many people having to work from home due to the covid 19 pandemic, could there be an opportunity for Durand to grow? Durand-Arkansaw School Superintendent Greg Doverspike thinks so. As companies discover that working from home is affordable and profitable, Doverspike believes that will give families the flexibility to live in a smaller community.  Doverspike plans on reaching out to the City of Durand and Pepin County to talk about ways the area could promote and capitalize on the possibility of tel-communiting.

Authorities in central Minnesota are still searching for a western Wisconsin woman last seen four years ago in St. Cloud area.   St. Cloud police say Shannah Boiteau from  Chippewa Falls went missing from the area of Interstate 94 and County Road 74 on June 22nd, 2016 after running from her boyfriend's car.  She is five-foot-seven, weighs around 135 pounds and has brown hair.   Investigators believe she fled to Wisconsin when a warrant was issued for her arrest on a probation violation.  People with information about Boiteau should contact the St. Cloud P-D or Tri-County Crime Stoppers.

A Chippewa County couple has been handed probation sentences for Medicaid fraud.  The judge put Terrance Lade on probation for two years and Tonia Nye for one year during a Monday court appearance.  Prosecutors told the court Nye pretended to be Lade’s caregiver and they both entered guilty pleas to charges of misdemeanor theft.

Could passenger train service be coming to Western Wisconsin? The West Central Wisconsin Rail Colition has been working with a private firm to bring passenger rail service to the area. Corridor Rail Development of Chicago has agreed to invest $200,000 into a study that will look into what infrastructure improvements would be needed to have the train operate. The train would run on tracks owned by Union Pacific and could carry a maximum of 300 passengers per trip. If all goes according to plan, service could begin in 2022.

The state of Minnesota is distributing 853-million dollars in federal funding to communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Governor Tim Walz says 841 million will go to counties, cities and towns to support local relief efforts. The money can be used for government services as well as grants to businesses, hospitals and residents.    Twelve-million dollars is going to food shelves, food banks and efforts to combat hunger. Walz says work by the legislature helped determine the greatest needs across Minnesota.

Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport is taking detailed steps aimed at reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection.  Metropolitan Airports Commission C-E-O Brian Ryks(ricks) says they are expecting to see an uptick in travel in the coming weeks.  Ryks said, "people are wanting to get out, again that's why we wanted to kick off this campaign at this time to insure that those people who are traveling in the coming week to two weeks, that we've taken steps to keep them safe."  M-S-P's "Travel Confidently" plan includes disinfectant fogging overnight throughout the terminals, social distancing signage, more hand sanitizer stations, plexiglass barriers at desks and counters along with touchless parking options.  Ryks says they are seeing a spike in bookings in the short term, but they don't expect to see a return to pre-COVID air travel levels for some time to come.

A Portage County man is going to prison for nine years for the role he played in another man’s overdose death.  Forty-six-year-old Jason Meisel had entered a guilty plea to a charge of reckless homicide.  Meisel and Gary Mayek of Junction City were in a Plover hotel doing drugs when Mayek died.  Meisel told investigators he provided the drugs they snorted that January night in 2019, but he said he didn’t spike them with fentanyl. An autopsy found fentanyl in Mayek’s system.

UW-Eau Claire will be using a contract tracing mobile app for the upcoming school year. The app will record temperature and symptoms of those logged in, helping the university track cases of COVID-19. UW-Eau Claire officials said the app will be the best tool available to prevent a coronavirus outbreak on campus and will be required of all students and faculty to use for the upcoming semester. The app is currently being tested to it's completely secure and will not track the location of it's users.

Durand residents are invited to join a drive by parade celebration to honor the class of 2020 tonight. Members of Durand High School Class of 2020 will be lined up along the perimeter of Memorial Park tonight from 7-7:30. Watch for the parade route signage at the intersection of Prospect Street and 1^st Avenue. After the parade, every senior will be invited to the Pepin County Dairy Wagon for some ice cream and receive a gift compliments of the Durand Lions Club and area business sponsors.

A 32-year-old Jackson County man is jailed after leading authorities on a chase Tuesday morning.  Deputies say Mikel J. Koller ran away during a traffic stop conducted by Osseo police.  Koller entered a nearby home and then left in a stolen truck.  A day later, he was spotted at a gas station in Merrillan, ran off and entered an occupied home.  When he refused to come out, deputies went into that home and took him into custody.  Koller faces charges of resisting and criminal trespass, plus he was already wanted on a felony warrant.

There are a lot of questions about getting back to school in Wisconsin this fall. State lawmakers heard nearly seven hours of testimony Wednesday in the first hearing about reopening schools after the coronavirus shut them down this spring. Some local school leaders says they're disappointed the 87 pages of recommendations are light on actual specifics about what the school year should look like, and how it will work.

Congressman Tom Tiffany is calling for Governor Evers to resign.  The Wisconsin Republican representing the 7th Congressional District says Evers ignored the crisis brought on by weeks of protests.  The Republican Tiffany claims the governor has done nothing about looting, mayhem and intimidation, standing by as the state Capitol has been damaged and statues defaced and destroyed.  Tiffany says public officials who refuse to stand up against those seeking to destabilize and destroy institutions should resign.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working with Madison police and fire investigators after a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the City-County building early Wednesday.  Damage was done to one city office and several windows were broken.  The Dane County Public Safety Communications 9-1-1 center had to be moved to a satellite location and dozens of people were inside during the attack – including jail inmates, corrections staff, dispatchers, police officers, support staff and custodians.  No arrests have been reported.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development is awarding nearly 19-million dollars in grants for infrastructure and rehabilitation projects in 32 Minnesota cities.  DEED spokeswoman Meredith Udoibok  says this is to help some of these smaller communities that always don't always have big businesses or the resources and financial pieces in there to stay as healthy as some of the stronger metro cities.  She says these grants will allow small Minnesota cities move forward with essential improvements to housing and public infrastructure.

The federal coronavirus relief bill known as the CARES Act will provide the funding needed for Wisconsin residents to apply for more unemployment benefits.  The Department of Workforce Development made the announcement Wednesday – those who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state benefits can apply for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.  The same people are also eligible for an additional 600 dollars-a-week of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

Minimum wage earners get a raise next week in Minneapolis.  The city is making changes like this to adjust to the changing economy as the result of the ongoing pandemic.  The minimum wage will jump to 11-75 an hour at small businesses and 13-25 an hour at businesses with more than 100 employees Wednesday. That base earnings figure is expected to slowly increase to 15 dollars-an-hour for large businesses by 2022 and two years after that for small businesses.