The second semester for the Durand-Arkansaw School District begins on Wednesday. Durand Arkansaw School Superintendent Greg Doverspike says the district is expecting more students to return to in-person learning. At the end of the first semester, 50% of middle-high school students were remote learning, while most of the elementary students were attending classes in person.
The Pepin County Health Department is developing a covid 19 vaccine request list. Pepin County Health Officer Heidi Stewart says if you believe you are part of phase 1A you should be calling the health department now to schedule your vaccine appointment. For those in phase 1b and the general public, the health department has a link to the request list on their Facebook page. We have a copy of that link on our station Facebook page as well.
The U-S Supreme Court has decided it won’t review the legal challenge of Winona County’s ban on silica sand mining. Minnesota Sands L-L-C argued the ban is unconstitutional. The case was filed in October and the high court’s decision is another legal defeat for Minnesota Sands. It holds mining leases for silica sand deposits in several parts of southeastern Minnesota. The state Supreme Court had ruled against the company last March. The county ban prohibits the mining and processing of industrial silica sand, but it doesn’t prohibit the mining of sand used in construction projects.
Less than two days after he was last seen, the body of a missing Juneau County man has been found in his submerged car in the Lemonweir River. Witnesses tell authorities 21-year-old Garrett Georgeson was last seen as he left Randall’s Uptown Bar in Mauston Saturday at about 2:40 a-m. Nobody had seen him since then and he was reported missing that night. The submerged car was discovered Sunday night. The Juneau County Sheriff’s Office says the incident is still under investigation.
There are more than 160-thousand coronavirus vaccine doses that are just sitting in hospitals and pharmacies across Wisconsin. The state's Department of Health Services said as of Friday, doctors and nurses have given 213 thousand of the 373-thousand doses that are available in the state. Wisconsin has been promised over 600-thousand doses, but many of those have not yet shipped. Governor Evers continues to blame the federal government for the slow-rollout of the state's vaccination program. He is not saying why there are so many doses just sitting idle.
Several big-box retailers have decided to quit selling the products from Minnesota-based My Pillow. The companies say they made that decision because C-E-O Mike Lindell has continued to support conspiracy theories concerning Donald Trump’s loss of the presidential election. Lindell says officials with Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s are dropping his products. Lindell also heard from Dominion Voting Systems Monday. That company is threatening to sue him for slander. Lindell has continued to claim the machines were “rigged” and influenced the final vote totals illegally. Dominion accuses Lindell of being a leader of a “misinformation campaign.”
Scammers are targeting Wisconsinites who are worried about the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. State consumer protection administrator Lara Sutherlin says they're getting reports of robocalls and spam emails from crooks claiming that they can bump people up on 'the list' of COVID-19 vaccinations, which just isn't true. Currently, Pepin County Health Department is establishing a covid-19 waitlist for vaccine distribution, and visit their Facebook page for the link. If you're worried about getting a vaccine, contact your doctor or insurance company, and never ever pay someone who calls you out of the blue asking for gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or money orders.
An eight-year-old Wisconsin girl is set to be part of a virtual Joe Biden inauguration special. Her parents say Morgan Marsh-McGlone of Belleville started out to raise 90-dollars to help feed food-insecure families. Her virtual lemonade stand has raised more than 50-thousand dollars so far. The Wednesday night even will air at 7:30 p-m. Organizers say they are highlighting heroes who have helped unit their communities. The girl says she started raising money after learning some kids who used to get their meals in school were going hungry due to the coronavirus pandemic. The money collected goes to Little John’s Kitchens In Fitchburg. Morgan is one of six people selected to share their stories.
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Just two-and-a-half months after the presidential election, another political season is picking up some momentum. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is releasing an ad calling for U-S Senator Ron Johnson to resign. The spot tries to connect the Republican to the storming of the U-S Capitol January 6th. Simultaneously, a new billboard has been placed along highways in central Wisconsin demanding Johnson and Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany step aside. The state Republican Party counters by saying Governor Tony Evers and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes “jumped the gun” over the August rioting and shooting in Kenosha. Republicans say by Democratic Party standards, Evers and Barnes should leave office. President-elect Biden isn’t sworn-in until Wednesday.
Fire officials in Sparta are blaming a spark from a fuel pump for starting a damaging fire last week. Authorities with the Sparta Area Fire Department said 10 vehicles were destroyed Friday and several others were damaged. Fire crews were called to the building shortly before 7:00 p-m. A father and son say they were inside siphoning fuel out of one vehicle using a pump. A batter on the pump sparked, starting the fire. It took firefighters six hours to put all the flames out. No injuries were reported and the names of the father and son haven’t been released.
Great Lakes shipping is on hold until March 25th. The Soo Locks in Michigan was shut down at a minute before midnight Friday, ending the 2020 shipping season. Officials say the 2020 season started with bright hopes and was crushed by COVID-19. The Duluth Seaway Port Authority says the port will finish under 30-million tons of cargo for the first time in 35 years. Slowdowns in steel production really impacted iron ore cargo numbers. Coal was down, too. Grain numbers and wind cargo were the only good news. The U-S Army Corps of Engineers will be doing maintenance and repairs while the locks are closed.
President-elect Joe Biden has named Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm to his administration. Governor Tony Evers office confirmed Monday that Palm will be nominated to be Deputy Secretary of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, rejoining the federal agency in which she served during the Obama administration. Palm's last day will be Inauguration Day, Wednesday. Evers nominated Palm to lead DHS in January 2019, but her confirmation was blocked by then-Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald. Republicans who opposed her job cited her decision to name a former Planned Parenthood lobbyist as deputy secretary. They've also been highly critical of Palm's leading role in the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Friday, nearly 31-thousand Wisconsin residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said just over 213-thousand vaccine doses have been administered thus far. Willems Van Dijk said most of those second doses were administered this week. DHS reported 2,268 new positive COVID-19 tests as of Friday, for a seven-day positive test rate of 25.9 percent. There were 32 additional deaths for a total of 5,322.
Several hundred Minnesota music students will be among those getting 650-thousand dollars in refunds from a Colorado-based travel company. Voyageurs International agreed to the settlement last Friday. The students were scheduled for a 2020 “Ambassadors of Music” tour of Europe before it was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company then refused to issue full refunds, saying it was keeping 19-hundred dollars in cancellation fees from all 344 students. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office investigated and that led to the settlement.
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