Pepin County Health has announced there will be free covid-19 testing next week. Pepin County Health Officer Heidi Stewart says the health department is wanting people to register online to make it easier. The testing will be November 24th and December 8th from 10am-6pm at the Pepin County Highway shop.
Durand residents will see an increase in their sewer rates for 2021. The rates are rising due to an unexpected repair to the waste water treatment facility that will cost nearly $250,000. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says the cost of the repair will be paid for by the general fund, and then the sewer department will re-pay the general fund. The council approved going ahead with the waste water treatment facility repair and the 5% increase in the sewer rate.
Two members of the Durand-Arkansaw School District have been recognized. During this weeks board meeting, high school principal Bill Claus was recognized as the Wisconsin Rural School Association Principal of the year, and Bill Yingst was recognized as the Wisconsin Rural Schools Association Board member of the year.
A sheriff in western Wisconsin says he won’t be enforcing the state’s mask mandate, even though it was just extended into late January. Trempealeau County Sheriff Brett Semingson says the governor’s emergency order doesn’t give his office the power to enforce the mask requirement. Semingson says he thinks most of the people in Trempealeau County do wear their masks, but he’s apparently not going to write them up if they don’t. The county health department has issued new rules for face coverings – including a requirement that kids over the age of five wear one.
Wisconsin's
unemployment rate inched up to five-point-seven percent in October
from five-point-four percent in September. The Department of
Workforce Development reports Wisconsin lost a total of
14-thousand-700 jobs last month. It's the first time the state
has lost more jobs than it gained since April. Economists say
the pandemic continues to weigh on the labor market. The
national unemployment rate in October was six-point-nine percent.
The
state Department of Employment and Economic Development reports
Minnesota's unemployment rate fell to four-point-six percent in
October. That's a point-and-a-half decline from five-point-nine
percent in September. DEED Commissioner Steve Grove says the
drop was largely due to labor force participation declines. He
says the number of unemployed workers in Minnesota fell to
137-thousand-359 in October. Grove says a lot of companies are
hiring right now, especially manufacturing and health care. The
national employment rate was six-point-nine percent last month.
The
Mauston Police Department says three of its officers have resigned
after being placed on administrative leave for a pair of off-duty
incidents. Officers Mckenna Huffman and Brian Raabe resigned
last month after they were found to have been involved in a bar fight
while off-duty. Raabe is facing criminal charges. The
third officer, Michael Sturek, resigned this month. He faces
multiple charges for injuring another person with a gun last August.
A fourth officer who had been on administrative leave has now
returned to the job.
Republican
legislative leaders and Democratic Governor Tony Evers will sit down
today (Friday) for a discussion of COVID-19. Spokespersons for
Evers and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos confirmed the meeting Thursday.
Vos has said he hopes to pass some form of COVID-19 relief, possibly
as early as next month. The governor and Republican leaders
held dueling news conferences earlier this week. Evers, Vos and new
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu are expected to attend the
meeting.
Milwaukee
Public Schools have pulled the plug on winter sports seasons. The
decision has been made to call off the entire winter sports season as
new cases of COVID-19 continue to mount up. The decision means no
boys or girls basketball, and no boys swimming, wrestling, or diving.
The decision wasn’t as much of a surprise in Milwaukee as it might
have been in other parts of the state. M-P-S had already canceled
the entire fall sports season.
Wisconsin’s
largest teachers union wants the state to make decisions about moving
classes online. The Wisconsin Education Association Council made
the pitch to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services in a letter
last week. The union says local decisions about holding classes
in-person or online have led to a patchwork of policies. Union
leaders say public health experts can and should make those
determinations. Schools across Wisconsin have set their own policies
since school started in September.
A recount of ballots in Milwaukee and Dane Counties could end in up court. The Wisconsin Elections Commission spent several hours Wednesday night arguing over how the recount will move forward, and what the rules will be. Democratic and Republican commissioners disagreed over where poll watchers will stand, how to treat ballots without the proposer addresses, and whether Wisconsin’s voting website may violate state law. President Trump has asked for a recount of ballots in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which will start Friday.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the size of gatherings that will be allowed at a hearing next month. The court issued an order to that effect Wednesday afternoon. The Tavern League of Wisconsin is suing the state Department of Health Services. The October order limits the number of people who can gather in bars, restaurants and other indoor venues to just 25-percent of capacity. It was issued October 6th by D-H-S Secretary Andrea Palm and it has already expired after being put on hold by an appeals court.
Departing
Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah isn’t leaving empty-handed.
Details of his termination agreement with the city were released
Wednesday. Mensah’s severance pay, along with benefits, adds
up to almost 130-thousand dollars. Mensah was involved in three
fatal shootings on the job in the last five years. When he
wasn’t criminally charged for killing teenager Alvin Cole earlier
this year, large protests were held all over the Milwaukee County
region. Mensah’s resignation is effective November 30th.
The
C-E-O of Polaris Inc. plans to leave the Minnesota-based company at
the of the year. Scott Wine has been the chief executive
officer since 2008. Wine said in a statement that he
was honored to have served in that capacity the past 12 years, adding
it is rewarding to reflect on what the company has accomplished
during that time. Wine says he has complete confidence the
future for Polaris Industries is bright. Wine saw the company's
revenue grow from one-point-nine billion dollars to six-point-78
billion in 2019. Wine will be joining C-N-H Industrial based
out of London.
Officials with the Duluth Airport Authority told Vice President Mike Pence he couldn’t hold a campaign event there in late October after a rally for President Trump ignored state health guidelines earlier. The Pence event was moved to Hibbing’s airport with about 650 people showing up. There were about three-thousand people in the crowd for the September 30th rally featuring the president. Although the campaign had signed a contract agreeing to follow state rules implemented by the governor, that didn’t happen – leading to the decision to turn Pence away.
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