The Dunn County Sheriff’s Office is identifying the three people who died in a house fire last Friday night. Emergency responders were called to the location at about 10:00 p-m in Spring Brook Township. Five people were in the house when the flames broke out and two women managed to escape with minor injuries. The fatality victims were 76-year-old Merrill Tande, 49-year-old Christopher Rouse and a six-year-old girl – all from rural Menomonie.
Following months with minimal Covid 19 activity, Pepin County has reported 13 new cases last week. The influx of cases began on Tuesday and spiked Friday. According to the Pepin County Health Department, the County has several areas of COVID 19 activity with case demographics including male and female, ages 6-81, and at least three different zip codes. All infected individuals are isolating at home. The Health Department is working closely with those individuals to identify close contacts.
The Buffalo County Health Department is reporting a possible Covid-19 exposure after an individual who tested positive visited three different establishments over the July 4th holiday weekend. Anyone who was at the River Ratz Saloon in Buffalo City or the Great River Harbor on July 4th and 5th or at The Lost Pirate Tiki Bar and Grill in Buffalo City on July 4th and are experiencing symptoms should contact their health provider to be tested. The Health Department reminds you that just because the establishments are listed does not mean they did anything wrong nor does it mean the business should be closed.
One month after his arrest, a man accused of a 2017 murder has pleaded not guilty in Buffalo County Circuit Court. Forty-eight-year-old Randall Merrick made his initial court appearance Friday. He faces a charge of first-degree intentional homicide. The victim, Beth Johnson, was last seen on Christmas Day 2016. Her remains were found in Minnesota last month. Merrick is being held on one million dollars cash bond. He returns to court in September.
In
an effort to save money, Eau Claire County plans to close its
operations one day each month for the rest of the year. The
county board of supervisors will vote on a resolution to that effect
at its meeting July 21st.
Some operations department workers will be furloughed. The Eau
Claire County Administration Committee has decided that employees who
aren’t in law enforcement, a 24-hour operations worker, or working
at the airport won’t be paid those days.
The ongoing review of untested D-N-A evidence kits has led to the arrest of a 36-year-old La Crosse man. Hank Elmore is being charged with sexual assault in a 2010 case. The charges were announced earlier this week. Technicians are working their way through thousands of old sexual assault cases and Elmore was found to be a match. He had already been found guilty in three other sexual assault cases. His D-N-A was turned over to the state lab last spring.
A
Rochester man is accused of burglarizing his ex-wife's home and
killing her dog. Officers were called to the home Wednesday
morning after a neighbor noticed the doors were open and saw the dog
floating in a pool in the backyard. Investigators arrested
Octavio Nique a few hours later. Police say the dog was sent to
the University of Minnesota for a necropsy. Nique is jailed on
suspicion of second-degree burglary, stalking, violation of
no-contact order and animal cruelty.
A
38-year-old man is injured after a shooting early Friday morning in
southeast Rochester. Officers called just after 12:45 a-m found
the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. The man was taken
to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police
say this was the second shooting this week at the address in
question. The first shooting occurred Wednesday.
Organizers
of the Mower County Fair still plan to hold their event this summer.
The fair is scheduled for August 11th to the 16th. A Facebook post
from the fair noted the fairgrounds may operate in different ways and
exact plans are still being finalized. Organizers said they will ask
visitors to wear masks and practice social distancing. Most county
fairs, and the Minnesota State Fair, were canceled earlier this year
out of concern surrounding COVID-19.
The
deadline to file your 2019 taxes is almost here, and the State
Department of Revenue is reminding you that failure to file will hurt
you more than owing taxes. Secretary of Revenue Peter Barca says that
if you do owe money to the state, they understand that many people
are hurting right now and there's plenty of assistance available. If
you do need to set up a payment plan, call the department's help line
at (608) 266-2772.
The
U-S Postal Service is reporting hundreds of absentee ballots never
reached Wisconsin voters in the days before the April primary
election. The post office blames election officials for trying
to mail those absentee ballots at the last minute. An internal
watchdog found the ballots were also inconsistently postmarked and at
least one carrier mistakenly returned outgoing absentee ballots to
the local election office. With almost one million Wisconsin
people deciding to mail in their ballots, the volume caused chaos and
is being blamed for multiple mistake
Local school districts, not the state, would decide whether Minnesota students are back in the classroom this fall under a bill House Republicans are proposing. Representative Sondra Erickson of Princeton objects to what she calls Governor Walz's "one-size-fits-all approach." Erickson said the governor is "forgetting that we have so many different areas of the state that have not been affected by COVID-19 like the inner city has." Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm responds tailoring could be allowed -- although she stresses statewide guidance should be used for having as much consistency as we can in approach, "but local conditions do differ."
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Governor Tony Evers are both expressing disappointment with this week’s ruling by the state Supreme Court. The court upheld the so-called “lame duck” laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that limited the powers of the attorney general’s office. They were passed in late 2018 during a special session. The Democrat Kaul says the court’s decision undermines the authority of the office of Wisconsin attorney general. Evers says those laws override the will of the people who voted for him in the 2018 election.
Governor
Tony Evers is starting the process to re-draw the state's political
map. Evers is taking applications for his People's Map Commission.
Evers says the map should be drawn by voters. But Republicans, who
control the legislature, say the state's constitution is clear, and
lawmakers have the power to draw the maps.
A Madison activist has been indicted by a federal grand jury on extortion charges. Devonere Johnson was accused of threatening two State Street businesses with destruction if they didn’t hand over free food, drinks and money. Johnson could be sentenced up to 40 years in federal prison on a conviction. Federal prosecutors say he told one business owner his windows would be smashed if a payment wasn’t made to his Venmo account. Johnson was arrested June 23rd after entering a business carrying a megaphone and a baseball bat. Dozens of people have protested the way he was taken into custody.
A driver who says he targeted a white person last week in a fatal crash is accused of a hate crime. First-degree intentional homicide charges have been filed in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court against 27-year-old Daniel Navarro. He’s accused of swerving into the oncoming lane July 3rd to deliberately hit a motorcycle. Fifty-five-year-old retired law enforcement officer Phillip Thiessen was killed. Bond for Navarro was set at one million dollars during a Thursday court appearance. Crash scene investigators say there was no evidence that Navarro tried to use the brakes on his pickup before or after the impact.
Scientists say Lake Michigan water temperatures are about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year. That’s good for swimmers, but it might not be good for the environment. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the recent hot weather and quiet winds are why the lake’s surface temperatures are in the mid-70s. That could lead to the growth of blue-green algae, though it hasn’t happened so far. If the warmer water temperatures persist, it could lead to evaporation, damage to wildlife habitats and fewer areas where fish can survive.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court says three of Governor Tony Evers' budget vetoes are unconstitutional. The state's high court struck down the governor's redirection of ten-million dollars intended for school buses to electric vehicle charging stations, tax and regulatory authority on vaping and e-cig products, and altering state transportation funds for roads to public transit. The court did uphold the governor's power to alter the amount of money the state spends in bills.
Add a substitute teacher shortage to the list of possible problems caused by the coronavirus. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction says the virus may scare away subs this fall. Many districts in Wisconsin have had trouble finding enough qualified substitutes for years. D-P-I says fear of catching or spreading the virus will likely only make that worse.
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