A longtime Durand Business and Community leader and member of the WRDN family has passed away. Gene Kirchner passed away on Friday in La Crescent, MN. After serving in U.S. Navy, Gene began a long career in broadcasting in Minnesota. In October of 1996, Gene and his wife Ellen moved from Long Prairie MN to Durand and took over the management of WRDN Radio. Over the next 14yrs Gene and Ellen transformed the station into an important part of the Durand-Mondovi area. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Gene was a member of the Durand Dugout Club and helped with the construction of the baseball field at the Bauer Built Sports Complex. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to the Durand Dugout Club.
The Pepin County Sheriffs Department will have a new K-9 unit on duty by the end of the year. Pepin County Sheriff Joel Wener says fundraising for the K-9 unit has proceeded much faster than expected to allow the department to move forward with the unit. Wener says donations are still being accepted and will be put into a revolving fund to be used yearly for the annual expenses of the K-9 unit. Donations can be sent to the Pepin County Sheriffs Department's K-9 fund. The department is holding interviews this week for the K-9 handler and once that person is hired, they will be attending training later this summer with the K-9 unit expected to be on duty by December.
The Buffalo County Health Department will be holding a covid-19 vaccination clinic this weekend during the 100 miles of garage sales. Sara Schlafer of the Buffalo County Health Department says the clinic is open to anyone. The Walk-In Clinic will be held in the parking lot of Beth's Cafe in Nelson Friday from Noon-5 and Saturday from 8-1. No appointment is necessary.
The Wisconsin Rural Partners will be holding a virtual summit to talk about ways rural communities can improve their lifestyles, communities, and more starting this week. Steve Peterson with Wisconsin Rural Partners says the virtual sessions will be held each Wednesday from May 5th through June 2nd. The cost is $15 per session or $60 for all 5 sessions and to register visit the Wisconsin Rural Partners Website.
A La Crosse man will spend 12 years in federal prison for dealing methamphetamine in western Wisconsin. The U-S Attorney's Office says 31-year-old Kong Vang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of meth and possession of a firearm in a drug trafficking crime. Law enforcement searched the home Vang shared with his girlfriend, Pader Yang, last July and found 254 grams of "ice" methamphetamine, five guns, 12-thousand dollars cash, and a half-pound of marijuana. Yang also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on May 11th.
Local officials say separate U-T-V accidents in La Crosse and Dodge counties have left two men dead. Deputies say 90-year-old Dennis Wood was operating a side-by-side U-T-V Saturday morning near Bangor when he lost control and was thrown off of it. He died before he could be rushed to a hospital. A 60-year-old man was killed Saturday night in the township of Lebanon when the U-T-V he was riding went off the road and flipped into a ditch. The victim’s name hasn’t been released. Investigators say he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt or helmet and was rejected. They believe alcohol was a factor in the fatal accident.
Nervous residents in Mount Pleasant are worried they’re going to be stuck with a big tax bill if the Foxconn deal falls completely apart. The governor’s office reported a significantly scaled-back contract with the Taiwan-based tech giant in the last week. Mount Pleasant and Racine County have already spent 307-million dollars on infrastructure and buying property to make way for what was originally planned to be a giant L-C-D manufacturing plant. If Foxconn doesn’t cover the local investment, the state of Wisconsin has agreed to pay 40-percent of the costs. The Mount Pleasant village president has told T-M-J-4 that “everything is on the table” while the Foxconn contract is renegotiated.
After more than a year of being closed to the public, the Wisconsin state Capitol will be open today. The coronavirus pandemic saw the building closed to the public except when legislators were on the floor. Initially, the Capitol will remain closed on weekends, and will be open only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. during the week, with only one entrance, and no public tours.
A nine-year-old boy took a wild ride on a baggage conveyor belt at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport over the weekend. The airport confirmed the child left his group and dove onto the bag conveyor near a ticketing area. Police found him about five minutes later near the luggage screening area. The boy was unharmed.
University of Wisconsin-Madison police say they have identified a suspect in a series of on-campus thefts and suspicious activity. That person was taken into custody Thursday after following behind another person to gain access to a secured campus building. Investigators are focusing on incidents over the past week. U-W-P-D officers have reportedly spoken with several victims and identified the suspect by using surveillance video and witness descriptions. The name of the suspect arrested Thursday hasn’t been released.
The Freeborn County Fair in southern Minnesota is canceled for the second straight year. The Freeborn County Agricultural Society made the announcement this morning (Friday) citing continued COVID restrictions on indoor and outdoor events. Officials said the decision had to be made now to avoid 300-thousand dollars in entertainment expenses and contracts. Manager Mike Woitas said "planning for a successful at this time when there isn't any guarantee the restrictions will be lifted, would jeopardize the fair for years to come." The Board is working with 4-H to have some type of livestock shows and other events for kids in August.
It’s one thing to watch birds perching on a window ledge of a high-rise, but quite another to find a turkey vulture inside an eighth-floor office. It happened on Earth Day inside a Milwaukee office building that is home to Rockwell Automation. The turkey vulture was found in a cubicle. The Wisconsin Humane Society says the bird is now recovering after becoming distressed because it couldn’t get out. It wasn’t injured, but scientists say it was dehydrated and thin. It’s being treated at the W-H-S Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and will be released into the wild when completely recovered.
Even though she was arrested Thursday in Iowa, the owner of a wine and coffee bar who defied state COVID-related restriction at her businesses says she plans to speak at a rally Saturday. Lisa Hanson was released from Cerro Gordon, Iowa County Jail after posting bail. She says she was already scheduled to speak at tomorrow’s “Stand for Liberty” rally at an Albert Lea park. Hanson says she is going to sue several people for 100-thousand dollars each for keeping her behind bars for two hours. Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag says Hanson had been under surveillance at an Air-B-N-B in Cleark Lake, Iowa after it was discovered she was staying there. She faces nine misdemeanor charges for opening her Interchange Wine and Coffee Bistro in downtown Albert Lea after the governor had ordered all restaurants and bars closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
A small percentage of the state's coronavirus vaccine doses have not made it into peoples' arms. The Department of Health Services says 45-hundred doses have been discarded as of Thursday afternoon. 45-hundred doses may sound like a lot, but it’s actually about one-tenth of one percent of the more than four million doses given since December. State health officials say nearly 43-percent of people 16 and older in Wisconsin have had one dose of the vaccine, and another 33 percent have both doses.
University of Wisconsin officials are inviting 2020 graduates to the Madison campus this fall to celebrate their achievements. Those former students missed having in-person graduation ceremonies due to restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. Anyone who graduated in the spring, summer, and winter of 2020 is being invited to join a much-bigger celebration the weekend of September 17th. School officials say there will be guest speakers, music, and photo opportunities for everyone who shows up at Camp Randall Stadium. More activities are being planned, including an event at Union Terrace and a concert.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sounds optimistic about the 2021 Minnesota State Fair. The governor said Friday that the state is outpacing President Biden's target date of July 4th for a return to normal. Walz told reporters, "the touchstone place" is the State Fair. He said, "everything looks to me on the horizon, and where the vaccine is going and the way that the virus is responding, that that should be a pretty close-to-normal event." The governor is expected to further relax COVID restrictions on gatherings and events next week.
The “help wanted” signs are up at Wisconsin’s state parks. The Department of Natural Resources says it’s looking for people to fill jobs at Northern Highland American Legion State Forest. That’s near Woodruff, Minocqua, and Boulder Junction. The jobs are seasonal, they last until the fall. Wages start at 12 dollars an hour, and go up to $18.69. You can find out more, and apply at the DNR’s website.
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