One person was injured in a motorcycle accident on Hwy SS at Elk Creek Road in Pepin County on Thursday. According to the Pepin County Sheriff's Department, 51yr old Bradley Leonard of Maple Grove, MN was turning from Hwy SS onto Elk Creek Road when he lost control on loose gravel. His passenger, 59yr old Laura Leonard was ejected from the bike. She was taken to an Eau Claire Hospital.
One person is dead after a one vehicle accident in Barron County on Wednesday. According to the Barron County Sheriff's Department, a 77yr old man from Eik Mound was traveling southbound on Hwy 53 when he left the roadway and struck a tree. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name is being withheld pending notification of family members.
Wisconsin Farm Technology days wrapped up yesterday at Huntzinger Farms in Eau Claire County. The three-day even event, which had been canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, attracted approximately 52,000 people. The show featured 520 exhibitors from 26 states showcasing the latest development in production agriculture. The 67th Wisconsin Farm Technology Days will be July 12-14 in Clark County.
House Democrats including Congressman Ron Kind are now introducing a plan that would sidestep state legislatures on Medicaid expansion. Kind says that also helps Wisconsin get bonus funding from the new stimulus plans. The bill will allow Wisconsinites who are currently eligible for Medicaid under federal guidelines to take that money directly, rather than have to get it through Badgercare. Kind says the package will be part of the upcoming federal budget.
Eau Claire police have released more information on an accidental shooting that left a 14yr old boy dead. Officers were called to the location on the city’s northside. Police say that they have arrested Austin Vang in connection with the shooting of Marwan Washington. Police say Vang lived with Washington and the shooting is being investigated as reckless.
A Menards employee is dead after a forklift accident Thursday at the Golden Valley store. A caller reported that the worker was pinned under a forklift. Police say the employee was operating the forklift when a piece of lumber fell on the machine. The man was unconscious and died at the scene. Menards said in a statement, “we are a small family here at Golden Valley and we are all in shock. Our thoughts and prayers are with our teammate and his family.” OSHA will be investigating the workplace incident.
Authorities in Sauk County say no one was injured in the crash of a small plane near Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells Regional Airport. The plane hit the ground and flipped on its top shortly after 7:00 p-m Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified. Workers removed the 1940s-era biplane from a field after the accident just north of the runway. No names have been released. The cause of the crash is being investigated.
About 100 private aircraft will take off from French Island this weekend on the way to the E-A-A AirVenture in Oshkosh. It’s being called the world’s largest formation of civilian Aircraft at La Crosse Regional Airport. The planes are planning to take off at about 11:30 a-m Saturday. People are being told the best place to watch will be the cell phone lot south of the airport terminal. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the AirVenture starting Monday.
The Pepin County Historical Society will be holding a night at the museum on July 29th at the Old Courthouse Museum in Durand. The featured presentation, starting at 7pm, will be a Readers’ Theater performance of events surrounding Susan B. Anthony’s delivery of her famous speech “Women Want Bread, Not the Ballot” in the upstairs courtroom of Pepin County Courthouse on February 6, 1878. In 1878, Anthony was in Pepin County speaking at the Courthouse while on a speaking tour of the Upper Midwest. Night at the Museum will be from 6-8pm and admission is free.
The mayflies visit Wisconsin annually, but not like this. Millions of them took over a Nekoosa gas station this week. They piled on top of each other on the pumps and the store. One store employee said they were six inches thick on the windows, likely attracted by the bright lights of the business at night. Many customers were afraid to use the pumps. One nightside an employee said she watched at least six vehicles pull in the parking lot, then right back out without buying gas. One expert, Jamee Hubbard, a biology professor at U-W-Stevens Point, says the number of mayflies is larger than normal because there weren’t enough parasites to each them when they emerged from the water.
Public health officials confirm it – the vast majority of Wisconsin’s new COVID-19 cases come from people who are not fully vaccinated. Department of Health Services communicable disease specialist Doctor Ryan Westergaard says more than 98 percent of the new cases involve people who didn’t take the important step. Of more than 148 thousand cases, less than 24 hundred are so-called breakthrough cases involving those who are fully vaccinated, then test positive. As of Thursday afternoon, just under 49 percent of Wisconsin’s population has been fully vaccinated.
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Some Wisconsin orchards say they are experiencing a “Honeycrisp crisis.” Door Creek Orchard manager Liz Griffith says she and her staff are outside every day checking things out. The orchard’s Honeycrisp trees are looking pretty bare. No flower buds were emerging like they usually do in late April and May – and when there are flowers showing, that means no fruit. One horticulture associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Amaya Atucha, thinks last year’s drought is to blame. A spring frost also may have damaged the plants. Griffith is estimating her trees will only produce about 20 pounds of fruit this season. Normally, that production would be in the thousands of pounds.
Attorney General Josh Kaul is urging the survivors of clergy abuse to contact his office. Kaul says that would help the Wisconsin Department of Justice conduct its statewide investigation. About three months into the project, Kaul says his office has received more than 100 reports of abuse and complaints about the way some religious organizations handled the cases. Kaul says all reports are a critical part of the review of clergy and faith leader abuse. The Department of Justice says cooperation from religious organizations has been “uneven.”
US Senator Tammy Baldwin has introduced a bill allowing time off for certain pregnancies and unexpected events with fertility. The Wisconsin Democrat is proposing leave for people impacted by a lost pregnancy, a failed adoption, or the diagnosis or event that impacts pregnancy or fertility. U-S Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois is a co-sponsor. The bill was introduced earlier this week to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Wisconsin lawmakers are to consider a new bill that would offer more protections to sexual assault survivors. State Representative Barb Dittrich introduced Kayleigh’s Law at the Capitol Wednesday. The legislation would open the door for victims of sexual assault – particularly children – to get lifetime orders of protection. Those orders are capped at four years for adult victims now and two years for children. Arizona became the first state to implement the law this year and Dittrich says Wisconsin needs to be next.
A national resettlement agency says it wants to bring 75 African refugees to Wausau. The Ethiopian Community Development Council will work with local leaders to open an office and begin resettling refugees as early as October. A funding proposal has been submitted to the U-S Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Federal approval is needed before the process can start. A spokesperson for the development council said it was encouraging to see the amount of local support the idea has received.
Students are returning to the classroom this fall in Wisconsin and school buses will have to get them there. School bus operator Lamers Bus Lines says it needs to hire about 250 school, bus drivers, before the fall term starts. When kids went to virtual class last year all of those idled school bus drivers found other jobs. It’s going to be a strain to get them to return. The Bay Area Workforce Development Board says it’s seeing fewer people entering the transportation industry these days. That board spends about 400 thousand dollars a year training people for their commercial driver’s license.
St. Paul Regional Water Services is asking its customers to voluntarily conserve water. A spokesperson says he doesn’t anticipate any service interruptions, but widespread drought conditions are stressing the system. That water utility serves St. Paul, about a dozen suburbs, and the University of Minnesota. Fifty-two percent of the state is experiencing severe drought right now. Water conservation approaches can range from letting the grass grow a little higher on your lawn to turning the tap off while brushing your teeth.
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