The City of Durand will be not be putting in sidewalk from Drier Street to Lee Street in the upcoming reconstruction project of 3rd Ave East this summer. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says the city asked the CBDG program if they could stop the sidewalk replacement at Drier Street because the CBDG Grant ended in the middle of the block. Bids for the project were sent out last month and will be opened on March 15th.
Xcel Energy has announced its more than 50% toward its goal of zero carbon emissions. Xcel said that the carbon emission drop is due to a transition to wind power. The company is getting 21% of its power from wind here in the Upper Midwest. The company plans on increasing that amount moving forward along with the use of solar power and nuclear energy.
Chippewa County Circuit Judge James Isaacson has denied a new trial request from the man who ran down a group of girl scouts in November of 2018. Colten Treu is serving 54 years for being high when he caused the crash that left three scouts and an adult dead. He told the court he wouldn’t have pleaded guilty if he knew he was giving up his ability to appeal. Members of Treu’s original defense team took the stand Wednesday and were asked about the way they informed him of his rights to appeal. The prosecution argued there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Treu’s attorneys at the time and the judge agreed.
A bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota cleared its third House committee Wednesday after debating over workplace concerns. Red Wing Republican Barb Haley says she's worried about what will happen if delivery or school bus drivers use cannabis. House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler responds for safety-sensitive position "the employer should have policies that prohibit anyone from being impaired or having cannabis or alcohol or any other kind of substance in their system." Winkler says if the employer doesn't have a policy or doesn't enforce it, they're liable if someone is injured.
Wisconsin’s governor has floated a couple of ideas directed at helping students catch up when they return to the classroom after a year of virtual learning. Governor Evers suggests that public schools could open before September 1st for the 2021-2022 academic year. That would require a change in state law by a Legislature that has resisted early starts in the past to avoid hurting the tourism industry. Evers said Tuesday the earlier opening is something that might have to be done temporarily. Students’ progress has been slowed significantly during the coronavirus pandemic.
The board of the Wisconsin State Fair says they want to open up the fair this year to in-person visitors. Board Chairman John Yingling says that the conditions of the pandemic and the growing vaccination rate should make it easier to open up the fair this year. Last year's State Fair had to go mostly online because of the pandemic, and parts of the park remain in use as the state's backup COVID-19 care facility.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced all in-person hunter education classes, including archery education classes, begins April 1. To help protect Wisconsinites and staff from the spread of COVID-19, particularly those most vulnerable to infection and severe disease, established safety protocols to protect students, instructors and communities will remain in place when in-person instruction resumes.
A letter from the Wisconsin Elections Commission could show up in your mail one day if you’re a registered voter and haven’t cast a ballot recently. State election managers say they aren’t going to purge the voting rolls without an order from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but they are going to reach out to missing voters more often. Commission members voted Tuesday to contact some of the 230-thousand voters who haven’t voted in years but remain registered in the state. The state would send them a letter every 18 months or so, just to see if they have moved or changed their voter registration. Missing voters are supposed to be dropped from the registration list, but that requirement is being fought in a challenge before the state Supreme Court.
Restaurant owners in Wisconsin say 2021 should be better than last year, but it won't necessarily be good. A new survey from the Wisconsin Restaurant Association shows a third of restaurant owners say it will take up to 12 months to get back to normal. Another 30 percent say it will take longer than that. And about 10 percent say things will never return to normal.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator John Cornyn of Texas are asking the White House Coronavirus Task Force to use live event venues as COVID-19 vaccination sites. The senators said in a letter that leveraging live venue facilities holds the potential to further assist the federal government's response to the pandemic by helping expand the availability of vaccination centers. Klobuchar and Coryn sponsored the Save Our Stages Act last year, providing six months of financial support to keep venues afloat. They say these shuttered facilities could offer spacious interiors that are designed to handle crowd management.
The Dancing Goat Distillery in Cambridge has built Wisconsin’s first non-climate-controlled rickhouse. Barrels of its Limousin Rye Whisky were being rolled into the rickhouse Tuesday. The distillery plans to build four more. A spokesperson says rickhouses age whiskey in a way that creates a more natural process than temperature-controlled warehouses with restricted airflow. The new structure in Cambridge is five stories high and can handle up to 78-hundred barrels of whiskey. Wisconsin’s cool winter climate isn’t a problem.
The Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor reports Minnesota State Troopers are underpaid compared to police officers at many local departments. The report compared wages at more than 30 metro police departments to the troopers. In 2019, starting pay for state troopers was five percent below the average for the police departments. Maximum pay levels for troopers lagged by 16 percent. In some cases, troopers earn two-thousand dollars-a-month less than police officers in suburban departments. State Senator Jeff Howe, a Republican from Rockville, says Minnesota spends a lot of money every year to train new troopers – because there is so much turnover based on pay. The Senate Transportation Finance Committee unanimously passed a state trooper pay bill.
When the U-S Senate gives its expected approval to the coronavirus relief bill in the next week, an estimated five-and-a-half-billion dollars could be coming to Wisconsin. About three-billion would go to the state and another two-billion to cities and counties. Republicans in Washington, D-C, and in Wisconsin both say the one-point-nine-trillion-dollar plan is too expensive. Especially since another trillion dollars from the first relief package still hasn’t been spent. That resistance won’t stop the relief since Democrats have enough votes to pass the bill without Republican support.
It has been far from a good time, but a study suggests Minnesota kids have done the best during the coronavirus pandemic. The researchers with Save the Children used U-S Census Bureau data to compare metrics like hunger, lack of tools for remote learning, and the difficulties families were facing paying their bills in 2020. Minnesota, Utah, and Washington were at the top of the list of 50 states – but the report also showed glaring inequalities in poverty, hunger, and struggles with distance learning. Kids of color and those living in rural areas had it much rougher than kids who were white and living in the suburbs.
Milwaukee health officials are pondering how many fans can come to watch the Brewers this spring. The Milwaukee health department hosted a tour of American Family Field last Friday. The Brewers want up to 35-percent of its seats filled. The city isn’t saying how many fans it’s considering. Interim Health Commissioner Marlaina Jackson says the city looked at the Brewers’ safety plan, offered some feedback, and wants to make some adjustments. Opening Day is April 1st.
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