The Pepin County Board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda including discussion and action an authorization to submit a community development block grant application, approval of the 2021-2030 land and water management plan, and discussion and possible action on an acknowledgment of Policy to Prohibit the Use of Excessive Force and the barring of Entrances and Exists for Non-Violent Civil Rights Demonstrations. Tonight's meeting begins at 7pm at the board room of the Government Center in Durand.
Home sales in Western Wisconsin continued at a fast pace in December. The Wisconsin Realtors Association reports that home sales in Western Wisconsin were 35% higher in December of 2020 compared to December of 2019. Buffalo County reported 12 homes sold, Pepin County 17, Pierce County 23, Trempealeau County 29, and Dunn County had 61 homes sold. The median price of a home sold in Western Wisconsin was $220,000.
An Osseo man has been charged in Trempealeau County Court with theft by a contractor. According to authorities, Travis Thronson entered into a contract with a woman in June of 2019, to complete the construction on her home. The woman paid Thronson $128,000 to complete the project but subcontractors told the woman they had not been paid. By December the subcontractors billed the woman over $57,000 for work they had completed on the project and the woman ended up paying them instead of Thronson.
Eau Claire County residents near the Town of Washington are resisting the development plans for 235 acres where they live. The town board will take up the proposal to build 116 homes on that land when it meets Thursday. Neighbors are worried about traffic and hundreds of new people invading the country living lifestyle they enjoy. They say they’d like to work with C-and-E Wurzer Builders on its plans for the development and may be offering bigger lots and fewer homes. The Eau Claire County Planning and Development Board has recommended the project move forward.
Prosecutors in Ozaukee County Circuit Court have charged the pharmacist who destroyed hundreds of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with a misdemeanor. Steven Brandenburg was arrested December 31st and made a court appearance Tuesday. He is accused of removing 57 vials of Moderna vaccine at Advocate Aurora Health in Grafton and allowing the contents to go bad. Investigators say Brandenburg admits he is a conspiracy theorist and he was convinced the vaccines would mutate people’s D-N-A. He’s charged with property damage.
A Pet Rescue Center from Madison is warning Western Wisconsin residents of a scam involving pet adoption. The Underdog Pet Rescue says a scammer with a Facebook Profile of Alora Allen is claiming to be an employee and posting pictures of dogs up for adoption. The scammer is requesting deposits to hold a dog for adoption however there is no dog available. The company says they do not take a deposit before an application or meeting is completed.
Wisconsin lawmakers have held another special legislative session that lasted only a minute or so. Republican leaders gaveled the session in at 12:30 p-m Tuesday, then immediately gaveled it out. Thirty minutes later Senate Republicans did the same thing. Governor Tony Evers had called the session to take action on his plan to upgrade Wisconsin’s unemployment benefits system. Legislative leaders say Evers has the money and the means to advance a five-million-dollar upgrade for the benefits system. They call the governor’s actions a “dog-and-pony show.” A spokesperson for Evers says the funds aren’t available to him.
Governor Tony Evers issued a new statewide public health emergency and face mask requirement. The order continues through March 20 and, with some exceptions, requires everyone age 5 and older to wear a mask indoors when they're around people who they don't live with. The order comes amid heightened concerns over a new, more easily transmissible strain of COVID-19.
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Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is being criticized for blocking responses on his official Twitter account, after being told by the courts he's not allowed to do that. On Tuesday, reports surfaced that Speaker Vos was once again blocking Twitter users from his official government account, something that a federal court specifically told him he couldn't do two years ago. Handling that lawsuit cost taxpayers 200-thousand dollars in legal fees. Vos has been increasingly derided on Twitter and other social media platforms after the Legislature spent most of last year out of session during the pandemic.
The premier of the Canadian province of Alberta is saying he will seek legal damages if President Joe Biden stops the Keystone X-L pipeline project after he takes office. Premier Jason Kenney says he hopes to speak to Biden to make the case for letting the multi-billion-dollar work continue. Biden has said he’s going to cancel the pipeline that would deliver oil sands crude from Canadian fracking operations to a terminal in Wisconsin. The pipeline has been in the middle of a 12-year battle between environmentalists, native American tribes, and Enbridge Energy.
State security officials are asking people who don’t have planned activities or specific business at the Minnesota Capitol to visit another time. The request comes as concerns grow about the possibility of attacks at state capitols during inauguration week. Even though the ceremony where Joe Biden will take the oath of office is in the District of Columbia, federal authorities say there is a possibility of attacks in all 50 states. The insurrection at the U-S Capitol on January 6th by supporters of President Trump heightened the threat awareness. Governor Tim Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard last week to protect the Capitol in St. Paul.
A 22-year-old man is in federal custody for allegedly trafficking homemade firearms and threatening to kill members of law enforcement ahead of protests at the Minnesota Capitol last weekend. The suspect, Dayton Sauke of Owatonna was arrested by federal agents on Friday. Records show Sauke was already under investigation for illegally selling firearms when he posted on social media that he intended to murder members of law enforcement or public officials days before protests of the presidential inauguration.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he doesn’t see the diversity of the city in the first round of coronavirus vaccinations. Barrett says he wants to see more Black and Hispanic people get the vaccine in the next round. The first round of shots in Milwaukee went to either front-line health care workers or people who work at the city public health and fire departments. Barrett says he wants more diversity when it comes to the vaccine, but he also acknowledges it will be some time before the general public moves to the front of the line.
Meteorologists say the Alliant Energy Portage Power Plant played a role in creating a Monday morning weather event – a snow plume that extended for about 100 miles. It started at the plant’s smoke-stack. The W-I-S-N Weather Watch 12 team says the plant was emitting enough condensation into the air to form snow. Cold air turned the mist and steam into snowflakes and a wind out of the west sent the plume of snow all the way from Portage to the shores of Lake Michigan. The snow fell for about four hours. The National Weather Service reports there was a half-inch of accumulation in Rio, about 15 miles away.
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