The first accumulating snow of the season is expected for Tuesday. According to the national weather service, a storm system will move south out of Canada and bring with it some heavy snow. Weather models put the heaviest snow in East Central Minnesota and West Central Wisconsin. Snowfall amounts of 3-5 inches is possible. Dont expect the snow to stick around very long as with the warm ground conditions most of that snow should be melted by later in the week.
The man charged with driving drunk and crashing into a building in downtown Red Wing claims he's innocent. Twenty-eight-year-old Donovan Plank of Red Wing pleaded not guilty to D-W-I, reckless driving, trespassing, and failure to obey a traffic device. Police say Plank was driving 60 to 70 miles per hour and eluding officers when he crashed into Liberty's restaurant on September 2nd. The building partially collapsed and debris fell on top of Plank's S-U-V. Officers said they could smell alcohol on him. His trial hasn't been scheduled yet.
Two members of the Durand-Arkansaw School District are being recognized. The Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance have awarded High School Principal Bill Couuse as Principal of the year and School Board President Bill Yingst as board member of the year. The district is working on an award presentation for both as the usual award ceremony at the WiRSA state convention but the convention was canceled due to the pandemic.
Residents in Pierce County will have a new Covid-19 test site available. Pierce-Pepin Cooperative Services has agreed to open their back shop and garage area as a testing site for Covid-19. The site will be open Mondays from 10-6pm starting today and running through Monday December 7th. The testing is free and open to anyone who is seeking a test.
Triple-A says the average cost of regular gas in Wisconsin is one-dollar,98 cents, three-cents-a-gallon lower than last week. The price at the pump is one-dollar, 86 cents a gallon in Appleton, one-84 in Fond du Lac, one-95 in Green Bay, Racine, Kenosha County, and Eau Claire, and one-dollar, 98 cents in Madison.
A Minnesota man is facing homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle charges in Rusk County. According to authorities, on Sept 14, 28yr old Brennon Plaisted was driving a UTV with a group on Hwy B in the town of Richland when the accident happened that killed on person and injured another. According to witnesses, the UTV and an ATV were side by side when the ATV flipped. Plaisted failed field sobriety tests and also failed a breath test.
The Wisconsin man being held for his role in the plot against Michigan’s governor will stay in this state – for now. Thirty-one-year-old Brian Higgins of Wisconsin Dells has a hearing scheduled in Columbia County Circuit Court this (Monday) afternoon. He’s one of 14 men who have been arrested. Higgins is accused of being part of a group planning to storm the Michigan Capitol and kidnap several officials, including Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. If he is found guilty, Higgins could be sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Today’s hearing will lay the groundwork for his extradition.
Iconic sportswriter and broadcaster Sid Hartman died Sunday at 100-years-old. He had covered Minnesota sports for 74 years, with his first column appearing in the Minneapolis Daily Times in 1945. His last article in the Star Tribune appeared over the weekend previewing the latest Vikings game. His son Chad announced his father's death on Twitter saying he died peacefully, "surrounded by his family."
Former Shopko workers will be getting one last check from the company. A federal judge in Nebraska has approved a three-million-dollar settlement agreement. His approval means almost four thousand people who worked for Shopko will be getting a severance check. The company had promised workers severance pay if they stayed on the job until the end – but then went back on the promise. Any employee who received a “severance memorandum” and worked until Shopko closed will be eligible to get some of the settlement money.
The head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission says she hopes the National Guard won’t be needed to help at the polls for next month’s presidential vote. Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe says about 50 communities in Wisconsin are short of the needed poll workers, but most of them are short by just a few. She said Thursday local election managers should be able to handle the expected flood of voters. Wolfe also said there shouldn’t be long lines in Milwaukee and Green Bay like there were in April. Most cities and towns are expected to have their polling locations fully open on November 3rd.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction says the state’s public schools are reporting enrollment is down by three percent this year. Since government funding is tied to the number of kids in class, districts already hurting financially due to the costs of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic are vulnerable. This is the second straight year Wisconsin public schools have reported a decline in enrollment. For the current term, there are almost 819 thousand fewer students in attendance than last year.
Last month’s job’s data showed nearly 60-thousand Minnesotans quit actively looking for work. State job analyst Steve Grove says they want people to know there are a lot of great jobs out there right now. He says that will require people to think about other industries and other career tracks and pathways that might not be the job that they left. Grove says companies never hire back in quite the same way that they furloughed in these recessions and so it’s time for the labor force to get creative and look for new directions career-wise. Grove thinks this labor force participation rate drop could be a one-time thing and there needs to be a few months more data before calling it a trend.
Mike Halpert of N-O-A-A’s Climate Prediction Center says the cooling of Pacific Ocean temperatures—known as La Nina --- will lead to two different winters for the U-S. He says that could lead to a colder and wetter winter in Minnesota, and especially wetter conditions in the western half of the state. Halpert emphasizes La Nina makes the climate more predictable- but the factors could change.
The COVID-19 pandemic is making things tough for Minnesota snowbirds. Now is the time when most have planned for trips south for the winter. An estimated 44 thousand Minnesotans spend their winters in places like Arizona, Florida, Texas, and California. Numbers released Thursday show more than eight million people in the U-S have tested positive for the virus. Deaths have topped 218 thousand and the spike in cases has many snowbirds rethinking their travel plans.
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