Local-Regional News August 7

No action was taken during last nights Durand-Arkansaw School Board meeting. The board had called the special meeting to discuss future staff needs. After the closed session School Board President Bill Yingst told those in attendance that the meeting was not about firing the Superintendent and the board used the closed session to discuss with the administrative staff ideas and other plans for future staff needs.

While the Plum City School District is continuing to move forward with 5 day a week in person learning, the district is making possible alternative plans in case there is a spike in covid 19. Superintendent Veneman told the board one option might be to have in person learning for the elementary students and virtual for grades 6-12.  Veneman also said another district survey on school attendance was ready to be sent out as some parents may have different feeling about sending their kids to school due to the mask mandates and possible increases in covid 19 cases.

A missing woman from Altoona has been found dead in a farm field south of Eleva. According to the Trempealeau County Sheriffs Department, on Wedensday a farmer called authorities reporting a body of a female in his farm field. Responding Deputies confirmed the deceased female and because of an earlier missing person alert, contacted the Altonna Police Department and confirmed the body was that of 33yr old Angela Coffield. After an initial investigation, foul play is not suspected in Coffield's death.

Eau Claire police and other local law enforcement agencies are telling people not to call 9-1-1 when they spot someone failing to wear a face mask.  Police are reminding people the Eau Claire City-County Health Department is in charge of mask enforcement.  They say you shouldn’t call 9-1-1 and, in most cases, you shouldn’t call anyone.  Officer Josh Miller says you should really only call the health department if there is a chance for transmission of the coronavirus – like if a restaurant worker wasn’t wearing one.  Even in situations like that, Miller says it would be best to just keep your distance and give people the benefit of the doubt.

 A suspect is dead after fleeing a Dakota County squad car and crashing a stolen vehicle near Hampton.   A sheriff's deputy called to a burglary Thursday morning found a car backed up to an outbuilding and attempted to block it with his squad.  The suspect vehicle struck the patrol car and fled on a gravel road at a high rate of speed.   The deputy spotted the suspect vehicle a mile later after it went over a hill and rolled into a field.  The man driving was dead at the scene. A female passenger was taken to the hospital with a serious injury.  Officers say the vehicle was stolen in Minneapolis.

Minnesota-based 3-M is eliminating an additional 17-hundred jobs after announcing 15-hundred job cuts in January. The company says the additional layoffs are the result of COVID-19 and the sale of its drug-delivery business. An official says the two rounds of cuts eliminated fewer than 70 jobs at 3-M's headquarters in Maplewood. Last week,  the company reported double-digit declines in second-quarter sales and profits.  3-M has been ranking out millions of N-95 face masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

 Four felony charges have been filed against an inmate at the Waupun Correctional Institution for an attack last Christmas Eve.  Forty-year-old Gregg Phillips is accused of stabbing one correctional officer more than a dozen times and biting a second officer who interceded.  Both officers survived.  The stabbing victim says Phillips told him the attack was “nothing personal.”  Phillips is serving time for a homicide conviction.  Now, he faces four charges including attempted first-degree intentional homicide.  The attack happened during recreation time in the prison gym and it was caught on video surveillance.

Senator Tammy Baldwin says she wants answers after reports that the US Postal Service's new Postmaster General is intentionally slowing down service. Baldwin says Louis DeJoy is a big donor to President Trump and that his policies are going to hurt people.  A report from the Washington post says that DeJoy has ordered staff and carriers to leave packages behind if they're going to slow down deliveries. Baldwin says she's seen pictures of that in the Oak Creek mail facility in southeast Wisconsin.

The 2020 Democratic National Convention will still be held in Milwaukee in a week-and-a-half – sort of.  The Wednesday announcement that former Vice President Joe Biden will accept the party’s nomination in Delaware doesn’t leave much for Wisconsin’s largest city.  Mayor Tom Barrett says he is disappointed that the convention is going to be only a shell of what it was expected to be.  Local D-N-C organizers revealed top Democrats won’t be coming.  The mayor says there was so much excitement last year and now it is disappointing to see the huge event slip away.

 A federal judge in Madison is questioning the idea of relaxing some of Wisconsin’s absentee voting regulations.  Several groups filed suit last April requesting that the absentee voting requirements be eased due to the emerging coronavirus pandemic. The U-S Supreme Court rejected the arguments, but they were renewed for the November presidential election.  Federal Judge William Conley said during a Wednesday hearing that people know more about COVID-19 now and he’s not sure he should make such significant changes.

Opponents of two projects approved by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission are accusing a former commission member of bias.  Just a few months after Mike Huebsch voted to approve Dairyland Power Cooperative’s plans he then applied to become the utility’s C-E-O.  Dairyland was a major partner backing the 492-million-dollar Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line and a 700-million-dollar natural gas plant.  Dairyland didn’t hire Huebsch for its C-E-O position.

Governor Tony Evers has allocated millions of dollars, for the University of Wisconsin System to deal with the coronavirus on its campuses this fall. The money - 32 million dollars to support coronavirus testing throughout the UW System and UW- Madison - comes from Wisconsin’s share of federal CARES Act funds. About 24 million will help campuses test students living in residence halls, symptomatic students and students who have come into contact with symptomatic students. The money will also help pay for personal protective equipment, with roughly 8-point-3 million to be used for equipment and testing on the Madison campus.

 Child care facilities in Wisconsin are facing an uncertain future as the school year approaches.  The Yahara River Learning Center in DeForest has been serving the children of essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic.  Now, owner Mary Buhler is asking other children to stay home so her business can comply with Dane County mandates to have smaller groups in daycare facilities.  The smaller groups of children and rising expenses have Buhler questioning how she can keep serving the community while her income drops off.

It's the middle of summer, but a popular Wisconsin Dells attraction is shutting down for the season. The operators of Noah's Ark water park say they're closing for the year, after two emloyees tested positive for the coronavirus this week. Anyone with single-day passes can use them next year. Anyone with season passes will get a free 'buddy ticket' for next year.