The U-S Army Corps of Engineers says it will spend four-and-a-half-million dollars repairing Lock and Dam 4 on the Mississippi River at Alma. The Corps says the lock is more than 90 years old. It is routine to drain it every 15-to-20 years while repairs are completed. Barge traffic isn’t impacted between December and March. During the other nine months of the year an estimated 10-million tons of product pass through Lock and Dam 4. A Corps spokesperson says with that much movement some downtime is necessary to make sure the lock continues to function properly.
The Durand City Hall will remain closed to the public until March 1st. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says city hall will be open for the spring primary on February 16th. Milliren says if things change with the pandemic between now and March 1st he will look at possible changes as to when the lobby would re-open.
The weekly Covid-19 testing site at the Pepin County Highway Shop is closing. Pepin County Health Officer Heidi Stewart says the test numbers at the site were too low to justify using the National Guard resources to conduct the site. Stewart says there are other testing options available. Advent Health in Durand will continue to offer free Covid-19 testing.
Educators are part of the current phase of those eligible to receive the covid-19 vaccine. Durand Arkansaw School Superintendent Greg Doverspike says the district will have teachers vaccinated in waves. Nearly 130 district employees indicated they would like to receive the vaccine. This week, Pepin County was able to acquire 1000 doses of the vaccine.
The western Wisconsin man serving 54 years in prison for causing the deaths of four people – including three Girl Scouts – wants to withdraw his guilty pleas. Attorneys for Colten Treu filed the motion two weeks ago and a hearing is set for early March. Treu is expected to argue that he wasn’t told he was giving up his right to appeal the denial of his request for a change of venue. True was sentenced last March. Prosecutors said he was high when he lost control of his pickup, veered off the road, and hit the scouts who were picking up trash.
Just as the Wisconsin Assembly was poised to join the Senate in voting down the statewide mask mandate, Speaker Robin Vos canceled the vote Thursday afternoon. Republican legislative leaders have decided to take time to study the financial costs of their measure. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has reported Wisconsin would risk losing almost 50-million dollars-a-month in federal aid for food stamps if the Senate resolution was approved. Vos says the Assembly will still likely vote to revoke the governor’s mask requirement next week.
Freeborn County District Court is fining an Albert Lea bar and restaurant nine-thousand dollars for violating a restraining order on indoor dining. The Interchange Wine Bar and Bistro was ordered to stop in-person service January 8th but posted on Facebook that it is hosting an event tonight (Friday). The Interchange was fined three-thousand dollars per day for being in contempt of court Wednesday, Thursday and today. Attorney General Keith Ellison said, “It’s sad to see an establishment with so little concern for the health of its customers, employees, and community."
U-S Senator Tammy Baldwin is applauding the Biden Administration for opening a special Affordable Care Act enrollment period during the COVID pandemic. The Wisconsin Democrat had repeatedly called on the Trump Administration to open the online marketplace but it refused her request. President Joe Biden used an executive order today (Thursday) to open a special enrollment period. Baldwin says President Biden is "taking immediate action to help more Americans gain access to the quality, affordable health insurance they need during this deadly pandemic."
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A March 30th preliminary hearing has been scheduled for a Cumberland man facing first-degree intentional homicide charges. Twenty-one-year-old Clayton Lauritsen made a Barron County Circuit Court appearance Tuesday. He’s charged with shooting 45-year-old Lauritz Robertson to death December 28th. Investigators say Lauritsen was the one who called 9-1-1 to report the shooting and he later identified himself as the shooter. Investigators say Lauritsen and a second man had been chasing Robertson’s roommate when the victim tried to intercede. That’s when he was shot.
Police in Rochester say the suspect in a pedestrian hit-and-run Tuesday was wearing a bulletproof vest. A 58-year-old Mantorville woman was in a crosswalk when she was by a car that took off. She was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Officers located the suspect vehicle and arrested 21-year-old Carson Zavala from Burnsville. Zavala had a bulletproof vest on and told police he's from Florida and was wearing it to keep warm. It’s illegal to wear a protective vest in Minnesota while committing a crime.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate ticked-up in December. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says Wisconsin’s jobless rate was five-and-a-half percent last month. It was five-point-three percent back in November. Wisconsin is in the middle of the pack in the Midwest. Indiana has the best jobless rate in the region, at four-point-three percent. Illinois has the worst, at seven-point-six percent.
The C-D-C eviction moratorium has been extended through the end of March, but Wisconsin renters are being told they have to take action. To invoke the moratorium they have to provide a signed copy of the declaration form to their landlord. Every adult listed on the lease has to provide their own separate declaration. The C-D-C protections are not automatic, according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Tenants still have to pay rent and they can still be evicted for reasons other than failing to pay. The C-D-C eviction moratorium was set to expire Sunday before the extension.
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development says the way to avoid another crisis in the state’s unemployment system is modernization. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites have experienced problems with the aging system, resulting in months of delays. Staff members at the D-W-D use a mainframe computer that is 50 years old and was designed using coding language that is more than 60 years old. An entire system overhaul would cost the state up to 90-million dollars. The modernization process would take three-to-five years to complete.
The inspection process for international travelers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is going high-tech. U-S Customs and Border Protection says it has deployed the Simplified Arrival program at both terminals. Entry is now automated, with the program using facial biometrics to check the documents required for admission to the United States. C-B-P says the technology creates a touchless process that maintains security, yet keeps official records of the entry and exit of non-U-S citizens. The Simplified Arrival program has been deployed at 31 U-S airports.
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