Frank Schneider and Audrey Marten will advance to the spring general election for a seat on the Durand-Arkansaw School Board. Scheider and Marten received the most votes to advance to the general election, while Traci Nelson came in third.
The Durand-Arkansaw School board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on an extension of the school resource officer contract with the city of Durand through 2024, discussion with the Pepin County Sheriffs Department regarding a K-9 unit for the county, and discussion on the second covid funding proposal. The board will also go into a closed session to discuss the hiring of a new high school principal. Tonight's meeting begins at 6:30 pm at the board room at Durand High School and will also be available via zoom on the district website.
The Pepin County Board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on approving a wage increase for part-time sheriff's deputies, a correction to the Pepin County Traffic Code regarding disorderly conduct with a motor vehicle, and a review of the Pepin County Government Center Facility operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Tonight's meeting begins at 7pm at the government center and will be available via zoom on the county website.
A homeowner along Silver Lake in Barron County found a wrecked truck on the shoreline of his property Tuesday morning. Inside that truck, the body of 22-year-old Ben Jacobson of Cumberland was discovered. Jacobson had been reported missing last week after he failed to show up for work. His Ford pickup had crashed into an embankment. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of Jacobson’s death.
A western Wisconsin man is now charged in a deadly weekend shooting in Eau Claire. Fifty-five-year-old Selwyn Smith charged with the first-degree reckless homicide of 38-year-old Freddie Flowers. Officers doing a welfare check Friday found Flowers lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head. A woman and Smith pulled into the driveway a short time later and Smith admitted that he was the shooter. Smith told investigators that Flowers had tried to kick in his door and punched him and the gun went off. He claimed he had no intention of shooting Flowers.
93rd Representative Warren Petryk released the following statement following the Governor’s budget request to the legislature. “Of course, I am cautious about some of the items proposed by the governor, but I agree that we must continue to help our communities recover from the COVID pandemic. Meanwhile, former Governor and interim President of the UW-System Tommy Thompson said “Governor Evers’ budget for the UW System will allow us to tackle some of Wisconsin’s most pressing challenges: expanding online education to meet market demands, tackling prison recidivism to save taxpayer money, leveraging our freshwater resources for economic and environmental gain, expanding opportunity for our neediest students. Governor Evers released his budget request yesterday.
A Rochester woman is facing charges for the alleged assault of a paramedic last week. The Olmsted County Sheriff's Office says 51-year-old Tonia Kruger was being taken to the hospital by Chatfield Ambulance after a rollover crash when she spit on the E-M-T. The paramedic told deputies that Kruger also kicked her and she fell back and hit her head. She was diagnosed with a moderate concussion at Mayo Clinic. Kruger is now charged with third- and fourth-degree assault for harming an emergency worker. D-U-I charges are pending blood test results.
A southeastern Minnesota man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for repeatedly raping a woman. The victim knew 32-year-old Zane R. Pederson of Spicer, but he concealed his identity during the attacks. Spicer entered a guilty plea to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Seventeen other counts were dismissed. Pederson was accused of trying the woman’s hands behind her back at times during the attacks that lasted more than five hours. In addition to using a mask to hide who he was, he also disguised his voice while threatening to kill her and her child. The series of rapes happened in the woman’s home in St. Charles more than two years ago. Her child was in a nearby room at the time.
A bill moving forward in the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate would require all state agencies to reduce administrative expenses by five percent in each of the next four years. Majority Leader Paul Gazelka has repeatedly said Democrats' proposed tax hikes are not necessary to plug an expected budget shortfall in future years. He wants to reduce spending and use reserve funds to balance the budget. House Ways and Means Committee chair Rena Moran of St. Paul says Republicans are choosing "arbitrary, indiscriminate and harmful cuts" to Minnesotans’ health care, education, and economic security, which will weaken the recovery and set Minnesota backward.
The Wisconsin Assembly is giving the green light to wide-ranging package of tax cuts. The primary section of bill passed Tuesday would match state law with federal law in exempting businesses from paying taxes on Paycheck Protection Program loans. The mostly forgivable loans were part of the 2020 COVID-19 stimulus plan, and Republicans say they supported more than one-point-five-million jobs in the state. The move would trim 540-million dollars from the state's tax revenue over the next three years.
Opposition is building at the Wisconsin Capitol for the effort to legalize marijuana. Republican State Senator Duey Stroebel warns more pot will lead to more crime. Stroebel thinks the downsides of legalization would outweigh whatever new money the state could realize from taxing marijuana sales. Democratic Governor Tony Evers says allowing Wisconsin residents 21 and older to use the drug for recreational purposes could bring in more than 165-million dollars in new tax revenue. Evers says that money could go toward rural schools. Residents 18 and older could use marijuana medically with a prescription. Republican State Representative Scott Allen of Waukesha has said more research is needed before the drug is legalized.
A special sign-up window for health insurance shoppers is open through May 15th in Wisconsin. People stuck in a bad plan or unable to find coverage have a new opportunity. President Joe Biden ordered government health insurance markets that had ended the annual enrollment periods in December to re-open. The Affordable Care Act – sometimes known as Obamacare – has created state-based insurance markets for people to buy individual coverage, either for themselves or their family. The president’s order applies to 36 states that run their insurance market through the federal platform, but the rest of the states are offering a similar extended window for signing up.
A Minnesota lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would allow teens to take driver's education courses online without an instructor. Senator Jon Jasinski of Faribault says with advances in technology that it's a great option to get a license without having to choose between going to class three times a week or participating in sports. Under the bill, young drivers seeking a provisional license would have the option to take driver's ed courses in person - but could enroll in a program allowing them to complete the course on their own time starting in June 2022.
Last month's violent riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters wasn't an "armed insurrection, according to U.S. Senator Ron Johnson. The Wisconsin Republican told WISN's Jay Weber that as far as he knows only one shot was fired. He defended the Capitol police officer who took that shot, which killed a woman who was attempting to break through a glass door during the height of the riot.
Minnesota lawmakers are discussing a Constitutional amendment addressing education again. The so-called Page Amendment would state that children have a fundamental right to quality education. Members of the Minnesota House Committee on Education Policy are working on legislation that would put the proposed change on the 2022 General Election ballot. Both the House and Senate would have to approve the wording before it could be ratified by voters. The Page Amendment was put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic. It would give parents the right to challenge the quality of the education their students received in court. So far, the bill has no scheduled committee hearings and no companion bill in the state Senate.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office says it has happened again – a second car has plunged off the Interstate 94 overpass. Investigators think the 27-year-old woman driving the car was drunk when it hit a snowbank Sunday, jumped over the barrier on I-94, and fell onto the overpass far below on I-794. Deputies say this fall wasn’t as far as the 70-foot drop for a Pewaukee man last week. Both drivers survived. The woman was arrested for operating while intoxicated.
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