Memorial Day Services were held in Durand and across Wisconsin yesterday. In a welcoming speech at the Durand Service, Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says it was an honor to return to services after the year of the pandemic. The services were sponsored by the Durand American Legion Post 181 and The Durand American Legion Auxilary.
Congressman Ron Kind says more than 130-million dollars in American Rescue Plan funding is going to colleges and universities in Wisconsin's 3rd District. The funds are intended to help schools cope with the severe financial fallout from the COVID pandemic. Half of the money for each college will be cash assistance grants for students facing hunger, homelessness, and hardships. Kind said despite their challenges, technical colleges and universities in his districts continued to provide students with a top-tier education throughout the pandemic.
A western Wisconsin woman could face up to three years in prison for nearly starving her dog to death. A Dunn County jury convicted Anna Lehl of Menomonie of one count of mistreatment of an animal Thursday. Rescuers say the dog was 20 to 30 pounds underweight when it was brought to the Humane Society last year. Gabriel has now made a full recovery and living with a new family. Lehl will be sentenced in late July.
A southeast Minnesota teen is headed to the St. Cloud state prison for the killing of his younger brother last summer. An Olmsted County judge sentenced 18-year-old Kaleb Smith of Eyota to ten years for the death of five-year-old Alex Smith. Kaleb pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter as part of a deal with prosecutors and second-degree murder and strangulation charges were dismissed. Smith admitted that he went into his brother's room and put his hand over his mouth for "one to two minutes" and pinched his nose until he became unresponsive. Alex died after being taken to the hospital.
Firefighters say more than two dozen dogs and two cats died in a house fire north of Sparta Sunday afternoon. Fire crews had to force their way inside the building where the animals were. Several dogs outside were unharmed. Authorities haven’t determined how the fire started. They say 14 adults dogs and a dozen puppies were killed, along with two cats. All apparently died of smoke inhalation.
A number of election bills are up for hearing today in the Assembly elections committee. Assembly Bill 198 will change how elections officials can handle miswritten absentee ballot envelopes. Under current guidelines, clerks are allowed to fix minor issues and accept the ballot. Bill 198 would require clerks to mail back the incorrect envelope, and notify the voter that there was an error on the state's elections website. The Committee will also have a hearing on compensation for recount elections, and a rule that would require cities to keep any footage they take of election counts for 22 months.
The U-W Population Health Institute's 2021 County Health Rankings show that every county in Wisconsin has a high percentage of excessive drinkers. Wisconsin is the only state in the country where every county reported excessive drinking among 23 percent or more of its adult population. The national average is 19 percent. Excessive drinking was measured using the number of respondents that reported binge or heavy drinking in the last 30 days.
State health officials say more than five million Wisconsin residents have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Just over two-point-four million people in the state are fully vaccinated. The Department of Health Services reported 79 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and over have completed the vaccination series. Members of the Wisconsin National Guard mobile vaccination teams have helped administer more than 100-thousand shots since late January.
A spokesman with Wisconsin Emergency Management says you should remember what warm temperatures can do inside a car during this holiday weekend. Andrew Beckett says just a few minutes inside a parked vehicle can turn deadly if people are not careful. He says you should not leave pets or people inside a car for any length of time as the car can quickly heat up. The Memorial Day weekend marks the traditional start of the summer driving season and more people are expected to be traveling as COVID restrictions have been reduced.
Officials at the Marshfield Clinic report the issues that caused patients to be billed for the COVID-19 vaccines have been resolved. Wausau television station W-S-A-W says it heard from nearly a dozen people after sharing the story of a woman who had been billed 86 dollars for the shots. They were supposed to be free. The victims had been billed for flu shots instead of the vaccine. Flu shots don’t cost patients anything, but their insurance providers are billed.
Federal officials tell the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction that the state could lose one-and-a-half-billion dollars in federal funding if a law is passed. The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee approved putting 350-million dollars into a fund that could be used later for e3ducation expenses – or anything else. The spending plan as part of the two-year state budget was approved Thursday. The U-S Department of Education warned the D-P-I superintendent that unless all of the money is spent on education, the one-point-five-billion coming to Wisconsin as part of the coronavirus aid bill might be at risk.
University of Wisconsin System leaders are reacting the to Joint Finance Committee's 2021-2023 operating budget for its schools. UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said " we appreciate the tuition freeze, allowing U-W institutions to manage tuition increases with reasonable limits. Blank said they will also make the case for continued investment in the faculty and staff who make the university great. President Tommy Thompson said, "by not extending the 45-million-dollar annual budget reduction and by not further mandating a tuition freeze, the budget committee offers the U-W System flexibility to develop talent, generate life-changing research and deliver the education students expect and families deserve."
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections reports that nearly half of all the people in custody at the state’s prisons and youth facilities are fully vaccinated. Nearly nine thousand people - or 47 percent of the eligible prison population - have received all of their shots. The department says that actually exceeds the vaccination rate for Wisconsin as a whole. A little less than 42 percent of eligible state residents have been fully vaccinated against the virus so far.
U-W System President Tommy Thompson says more than a thousand nursing and pharmacy students earned 500-dollar tuition credits for working at COVID vaccination sites. U-W is offering a second vaccination credit opportunity for students enrolled in the summer or fall semester. Thompson says the students stepped up to help beat back the pandemic and he's proud of them. This credit builds upon the existing incentives for nursing and pharmacy students to work in hospitals and health care settings. The program is funded through a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Two people are jailed on drug charges in Sawyer County after a heroin bust. Deputies made a traffic stop in Hayward Monday and a police dog sniffed out drugs in the car. A search turned up 271 grams of heroin, eight-and-a-half grams of cocaine, pills, a loaded handgun, and a large amount of cash. The heroin has an estimated street value of 20-thousand dollars. The driver - 27-year-old Matthew Jackson of Ashland -- was arrested for possession with intent to deliver heroin and other charges. Twenty-seven-year-old Keshia Wilmer of Glidden was also charged with heroin possession.
A top political and legal analyst says there is potential legal risk to the state in offering a free drink for those who get vaccinated. Hamline University Professor David Schultz argues a free drink under the state-endorsed program could put someone over the legal limit. He says "If I am a victim of a drunk driver,... not only am I gonna sue the driver... and the bar, but I might also name the State of Minnesota in this action." Schultz says it also could put bar owners, who must comply with state dram-shop laws, in a difficult position. Schultz says there are also potential political repercussions. Walz administration officials couldn't be reached for comment.
Minnesota U-S Senator Tina Smith is urging the Department of Justice to examine whether the four largest beef processing companies in the U-S are violating antitrust laws and principles of fair competition. She claims it is something that is impacting Minnesota producers. Smith says when cattle producers go to market "they are getting squeezed, making pennies on the dollar and of course, consumers end up paying the price, too." The four companies control more than 80 percent of the processing market and operate 18 of the top 20 beef slaughter facilities.
As the summer season begins many of the water parks and other attractions at the Wisconsin Dells are operating with smaller staffs. Tom Diehl, president of the Attractions Association, says they don’t have the young people they used to have. Diehl says there is also a shortage of J-1 workers from foreign countries who come here on a work visa. Normally, he says there are about 32-hundred J-1 workers in the Dells for summer jobs – this year it’s looking like 800-to-a thousand.
Summer is coming, and Wisconsin Agriculture Secretary Randy Romanski says it's a great time to see the family-friendly agriculture-related attractions the state has to offer. Stopping at a cheese factory or taking a farm tour can show your family where food comes from. The Department of Tourism website and local tourism websites have information about dairy breakfasts and other events
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