Firefighters from Durand, Plum City, Lund, Nelson, and Elmwood responded to a barn fire at the Jessie Richardson farm at N4846 Hwy D yesterday afternoon. When firefighters arrived the barn was fully engulfed and had spread to another building and two vehicles. A pickup truck and skid steer were lost in the fire. There were no reports of any injuries or any livestock lost. Firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to the home. The barn was a total loss.
If the former chief of the Boyceville Community Ambulance District pays back the money he took, he could avoid prosecution. Matthew Feeney entered a no-contest plea in Dunn County Court last week. Prosecutors dismissed a felony theft charge and if he repays the district 22-hundred dollars the remaining count against him could be withdrawn. Prosecutors say Feeney bought some personal items using the district’s credit card, then tried to cover it up. He pleaded no contest to the remaining misdemeanor count of fraudulent data alteration.
The Wabasha County Board is meeting today. Items on the agenda include approval of the sale of right of way on County Hwy 27, authorizing additional seal coat work on County Hwy 6, and discussion of the use of American Rescue Funds from the Federal Government. Today's meeting begins at 4pm in the county board room at the Wabasha County Government Center.
Pepin County's newest member, K-9 Deputy Vegas is getting ready for training at a facility in Iron Ridge, WI later this summer. Pepin County Sheriff Joel Wener says the first four weeks of training is to prepare Vegas to become state-certified. If K-9 Deputy Vegas passing the certification, the 5th week of training will be out in the field to prepare Vegas for what will happen when he is on duty. Sheriff Wener expects K-9 Deputy Vegas and his handler, Deputy Darrin Lowenhagen to be on duty in Pepin County by the fall.
Former N-F-L player and Wisconsin All-American Thomas Burke is facing child sex abuse charges in northeastern Minnesota. Forty-four-year-old Burke of Rice Lake, Wisconsin was arraigned Monday in Duluth for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The criminal complaint says a seven-year-old girl told her mother in February that Burke had sexually assaulted her multiple times in her St. Louis County home. Burke is reportedly the ex-boyfriend of the girl's mother. Court documents show he denied the accusations and said he was being railroaded. The judge set bail at 100-thousand dollars.
The F-B-I Internet Crime Report shows a 69-percent increase in cybercrimes when last year is compared to 2019. Wisconsin businesses haven’t escaped the online plague. Authorities received reports from more than 83-hundred victims in this state with reported losses topping 36-million dollars. Both the F-B-I and the Wisconsin Department of Justice are emphasizing how important it is for cybercrimes to be reported quickly. Most of the losses came in compromised business emails, but investigators say ransomware is a growing threat.
The Department of Public Instruction has approved 13-and-a-half-million dollars in funding for Wisconsin charter schools. State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor says the 19 federal grants help those schools with planning, opening, or expanding their education efforts. State officials say this is the fourth round of funding from the U-S Department of Education. The five-year grant program prioritizes schools that serve educationally disadvantaged students in grades six-through-12.
Gas prices are continuing to inch higher, and experts say it’s the result of two things: oil prices and demand as the U.S. recovers from COVID-19. Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy says that oil prices are up to $71 per barrel, a price that hasn’t been seen since 2018. According to GasBuddy, Wisconsin drives are paying an average of $2.91 a gallon at the pump. This is an increase of 2.7 cents from the month before and 84.2 cents from this time last year.
Minnesota House and Senate negotiators say they have an agreement on a bill that would phase out Governor Tim Walz's COVID moratorium on evictions. Tenants who have violated their lease for reasons other than non-payment of rent would have 45 days to correct it after the bill becomes law. Others, depending on income, would have up to 105 days before eviction proceedings could begin -- and until June of next year if they have an outstanding request for rent assistance. Republican Senator Rich Draheim from Madison Lake says we want to push people to that RentHelpMN website to help "both the housing provider and tenant."
Minnesota pork producers are concerned a recent court ruling limiting pork production line speeds would decrease capacity, drive consolidation and eventually lead to increased prices for consumers. Terry Wolters of Pipestone says limiting line speeds to just over 11-hundred head an hour would hit his region hard. Wolters, the president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council, says the limit, which advocates say would be good for worker safety, would also lead to longer working hours for those same workers.
The line for COVID-19 vaccines in Wisconsin is getting a lot shorter. Wisconsin administered fewer than half the number of shots last week than it did just one month ago. State health officials say doctors and nurses administered about 64- thousand doses last week, compared to 87-thousand doses the week before, and 169-thousand doses in the second week of May. Wisconsin’s COVID-19 vaccination rate has been falling steadily since its peak in early April
A Kansas company says it is shutting down its plant in Manhattan and transferring the work to its location in Neenah. McCall Pattern Company prints sewing patterns for many nationwide customers. It has done the work in Kansas for 50 years. McCall says it has 85 workers at the Manhattan plant where operations will be shut down by the end of this year. At its busiest, the plant printed and folded about 200 million patterns each year. That volume is down to 20-to-30-million currently.
Authorities in Washington County say they are looking for two more men in the fatal shooting at a Woodbury graduation party. Charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder have been filed against 23-year-old Enrique Davila and 19-year-old Jaden Townsend. Authorities are also looking for a 17-year-old referred to as a “juvenile defendant” in court papers. Fourteen-year-old Demaris Hobbs-Ekdahl was shot to death June 5th at the party. His stepfather is accused of being the one who fired the shot.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating an incident that led to a Rushford police officer firing his gun Saturday. The incident happened at about 6:30 p-m. Police were responding to a report of a violation of a restraining order. A suspect was taken into custody and no injuries have been reported. Authorities in southeastern Minnesota haven’t identified the officer or the suspect involved.
Two weeks after the last real soaking rain, Minnesota farmers are worrying about their crops. In Wright County, the corn crop is starting to dry up and curl inward. Farmer Dave Marquardt tells W-C-C-O television his plants are beginning to wither. Marquardt grows corn to feed his cattle and he’s worried about losing that food source during the drought. That could force him to decide between selling his cows or buying more feed – and he says the prices are very high. Making things worse, the city of Howard Lake is under a water emergency, meaning no watering of laws, washing vehicles, or filling pools. Farmers say there’s simply nothing they can do right now but wait for rain.
The Honor Flight organizations of Wisconsin are restarting their flights this fall. Old Glory Honor Flights says they're still hoping to get 300 veterans on trips this year to the war memorials built in their honor. Those flights were grounded last fall because of COVID-19, but will be getting back into business starting August 31st. Director Diane McDonald says they'll be following whatever safety procedures that are needed to ensure safety for the veterans and their guardians.
No comments:
Post a Comment