With covid numbers declining, the Durand-Arkansaw School District has decided to resume in-person learning in January. During last night's school board meeting, members voted to resume in-person learning starting on January 4th for the district. The board also approved the 2021-22 school calendar which will include a spring break in March.
The Pepin County Board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include a review of the Pepin County Government Center Facility in regards to the Covid-19 pandemic, appointment of an interim Highway Commissioner, and discussion and adoption of a citizen participation plan. Tonight's meeting begins at 7pm and will be available on zoom through the county website.
Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire has received its first shipment of the Covid-19 Vaccine. Officials from Mayo reported that they should receive approximately 2,900 doses this week and another 4,900 doses the following week. The first doses will be given to frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, and other health care workers, and workers at long-term care facilities.
One person was injured in a two-vehicle accident Monday in the Town of Lincoln. According to the Trempealeau County Sheriffs Department, 32yr old Brett Hays of Whitehall was traveling westbound on Hwy 121 and waiting to make a left turn into a driveway, when he was struck from behind by a westbound vehicle driven by 19yr old Preston Martin of Whitehall. Hays was taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries while Martin was not injured. Inattentive driving is believed to be a factor in the accident.
The federal Securities and Exchange Commission is apparently investigating an investment advisor in Altoona. Public disclosure data listed on the S-E-C’s website indicates Michael Shillin is accused of altering documents involving long-term care insurance policies and falsifying information while he is under investigation. His profile on the government website indicates Shillin was fired from an investment firm in Chippewa Falls two years ago and he resigned from Alliance Global Partner while he is being investigated. One of his former clients has filed a claim that Shillin misrepresented some information that wound up costing him damages of 20-thousand dollars.
A Greenwood man is free on a 10-thousand-dollar signature bond after being arrested and charged with child sex crimes. Eau Claire County prosecutors accused Ricky Doede of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, child enticement, and attempted sexual assault of a child under 16. Doede didn’t know he was talking to an undercover officer who was posing as a 14-year-old girl online. After he was caught he admitted he was traveling to meet with a girl he knew was underage.
A judge has ruled a Wisconsin Dells man charged in a Michigan terror plot should be extradited. The ruling was handed down Tuesday in a Columbia County courtroom. Brian Higgins is accused of being part of a crew conducting surveillance of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s vacation home as part of a kidnapping plot. Higgins will be allowed to appeal the decision before he is transported to Michigan. His attorney argued the extradition order shouldn’t be granted because Governor Whitmer has a conflict of interest based on her status as the intended victim.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture plans to continue battling the emerald ash border (EAB) when federal regulations end next year. The U-S-D-A has been limiting the spread of the tree-killing insect since it was first discovered in Michigan in 2020, but the agency will deregulate E-A-B on January 14th. State officials have regulated the pest since 2009 and will continue to monitoring un-infested areas for E-A-B, quarantine newly infested county and limit movement of wood products. Minnesota Ag Commissioner Whitney Place said there is strong interest in maintaining regulations for the sake of our urban and natural forests. Twenty-five of Minnesota's 87 counties are infested with E-A-B.
Senator Amy Klobuchar continues to push for passage of a bipartisan bill that would provide federal grants to live music venues affected by COVID-19. She touted the Save Our Stages Act during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday. Klobuchar said, “So many of these venues are literally the heart of our communities. They are the place people go. Since we are quoting a lot of things, we do not want to be the Congress that lets the music die." The measure would provide six months of financial support to keep venues afloat, pay employees and preserve the music sector. Klobuchar mentioned First Avenue and the Moorhead Bluestem Amphitheater during the hearing.
Wisconsin has its first doses of the coronavirus vaccine, but it will be a while before most people get a chance to get it. The Department of Health Services says it will take weeks just to vaccinate all of Wisconsin’s healthcare workers. People living in long-term care facilities can expect to start to get their shots the middle of next month. It could be the fall before the vaccine is widely available. Most vaccinations will happen at doctors’ offices, but there are also plans for mass-community vaccination sites.
It is going to be up to the individual voter to determine if they are “indefinitely confined.” If so, they are free to request and submit an absentee ballot without showing any photo I-D. The Wisconsin Supreme Court made that ruling Monday in a case filed earlier this year by the Republican Party. Last March, the court ordered the Dane County Clerk to quit telling voters that – because of the coronavirus pandemic and a statewide stay-at-home order – anyone could request an absentee ballot. The Wisconsin Republican Party had filed the suit to stop the clerk. Nine months later the court came down on the clerk’s side.
A report from the Legislative Audit Bureau reveals the state Department of Workforce Development sent 77-percent of unemployment applicants into pending status when the claims could have been processed. The audit released Monday shows that 514-thousand of nearly 663-thousand claims were put into adjudication over a seven-month period so the department could determine if the applicant was eligible to receive benefits. Some of the people were left in adjudication for 10 weeks or more. More than 96-thousand were still in adjudication when the audit was conducted. In 90-percent of those cases, the D-W-D had the information to process the claim, or it failed to ask for the proper information. The audit did find the average claim took nearly 40 days to process last April – now, processing takes about eight-and-a-half days.
Business is brisk at Thermo Fisher Scientific, the maker of a freezer that can create the ultra-cold storage container needed for the COVID-19 vaccine. Thermo Fisher has been making the product for more than 50 years at several locations. The company is based in Texas, but it has offices at three locations in Wisconsin. A local official says the work actually started much earlier this year when storage was needed for all the test samples. The COVID-19 vaccine is supposed to be stored in temperatures below negative-94 degrees Fahrenheit. The company says there is plenty of supply and no threat of shortages despite the demand.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is praising the Minnesota Legislature for passing a 216-million-dollar COVID relief package for businesses and a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits. Walz said, "this bipartisan bill will provide direct, targeted aid to keep our small businesses afloat, support workers struggling to get by, and help families put food on the table while we work to get the virus under control." The governor added, "our small businesses have made enormous sacrifices to their own bottom lines for the good of our state." Eighty-eight-million dollars will go directly to bars, restaurants and gyms: convention centers and movie theaters are getting 14-million; and 114-million will be distributed by counties.
Hormel Foods is launching another effort to help Austin area restaurants struggling due to the latest COVID-19 shutdown. The company announced it will order more than 12-hundred meals per week from local businesses through January 29th. About 400 of the meals will be delivered to the Mower County Senior Center twice a week. Hormel ordered around 300 meals each weekday from local restaurants during the pause on in-door dining last spring. Officials say Hormel has donated more than a million dollars and one-million meals to hunger causes.
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