The Durand City Council has approved a resolution to begin the process of a special assessment for property owners on Drier Street and Laneville Road. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says this is the first step in the process to have the special assessment and Cedar Corp will be out measuring properties before notifications are sent to owners. The resolution passed on a 3-2 vote with one abstention. During the debate council members opposed to proceeding felt it was unfair to special asses because some property owners on the 3rd Ave East portion of the project were not subject to a special assessment due to the CBDG Grant.
Mondovi residents will be seeing an increase in their sewer rates. Mondovi Mayor Brady Weiss says the rate increase was something that was not unexpected due to the new wastewater treatment plant. New residential rates will be $120 per quarter in 2022 with a usage rate of 9.65 per 1000 gallons with an increase to $135 a quarter with a usage rate of $10 per 1000 gallons in 2023. Commercial and industrial rates will also be increasing in 2022 and 2023
This week Pepin County Health issued a health alert after someone was at three establishments last weekend came down with Covid 19. Pepin County Health Officer Heidi Stewart says the recent spike in covid cases was why the alert was issued. Stewart says so far there have been no deaths due to the spike and she reminds everyone that if you need to get tested, you are to call your provider or Advent Health in Durand to schedule a test.
For six straight days, strong storms have hit at least some areas of Wisconsin. Trees and powerlines were knocked down overnight into Wednesday, interrupting electric service to about 180 thousand customers in southeastern Wisconsin. Weather observers confirmed two tornadoes touched down in west-central and northeastern parts of the state. One destroyed the Norwalk Sportsman’s Club building with winds in excess of 100 miles an hour. Tornado warnings were issued for Juneau, Monroe, Iowa, Dane, and Marathon counties. Weather problems last night were limited to hail and some flooding. No serious injuries have been reported, but a lot of damage was done.
Not everybody is happy about plans for a million-square-foot warehouse near Interstate 94 in western Wisconsin. Many people living in Roberts, a village in St. Croix County, have voiced their opposition. They say Project Mallard will create traffic congestion, but village officials say the big structure will also create about 800 jobs. Roberts has just over 16 hundred residents. Village leaders haven’t said what company wants to build the warehouse. If it is approved at a meeting later this month, the ground could be broken in the fall, and the building would be open late in the summer of 2022.
A Jackson County man who used a child as a shield during a standoff is going to serve 11 months in jail. The sentence for Juan Aguilar is for a separate bail-jumping conviction. Aguilar is on four years’ probation for recklessly endangering safety in the case involving the child during the standoff. Deputies were executing a search warrant in 2018 when they say Aguilar pointed a gun at them and made threats. He later came out of the house while holding the child in front of him – before eventually surrendering. Deputies had been looking for a stolen car.
A quota has been set for this fall’s wolf hunt in Wisconsin. The Natural Resources Board voted 5-2 Wednesday to set aside a Department of Natural Resources recommendation to cap fall wolf hunting kills at 130, and set the quota instead at 300. However, Wisconsin’s Chippewa tribes are entitled by treaty to claim up to half of the quota but do not hunt the animal which they consider to be sacred. That could mean only about 150 wolves for state-licensed hunters to kill. In February, a court-ordered season was capped at 119 kills, but hunters and trappers killed 218 wolves before it was shut down.
The Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office says four golfers were injured when they were struck by lightning while out on a golf course. Deputies responded to a report Tuesday of multiple golfers being injured at the Big Fish Golf Course in the Town of Hayward. No names have been released. The four victims were found alert and conscious. They were taken to a local hospital, but their medical conditions aren’t known.
Several Wisconsin lawmakers have traveled with the crowd across the state line to Illinois as part of a new push to legalize marijuana. They say they want to stop millions of dollars from leaving the Badger State. Democratic State Senator Melissa Agard of Madison says she knows Wisconsin is ready for legalization. Agard and Milwaukee State Representative David Bowen held a news conference in a South Beloit dispensary parking lot filled with vehicles bearing Wisconsin license plates. They estimate legal sales of marijuana could bring Wisconsin 165 million dollars or more in annual tax revenue.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services report reveals that opioid overdoses are much higher since the coronavirus pandemic started. The rate of overdose incidents has nearly doubled, from about seven per 100 thousand people in January 2019 to about 13 per hundred thousand in March. The number rose even higher in May. Researchers say stress from the pandemic, a statewide stay-at-home order, increased access to drugs, and social isolation may have led to more dangerous behavior. Officials say the recent trend shows overdoses headed higher again.
Seven hundred thousand dollars may be all the University of Wisconsin ever receives from Foxconn Technology Group. Chancellor Rebecca Blank says she isn’t expecting the Taiwan-based tech giant to honor the 100-million-dollar pledge it made to the school three years ago. At the time, it was promoted as the biggest research partnership in the university’s history. The pledge was made as part of the multi-billion dollar agreement that Foxconn would build a huge factory near Mount Pleasant. That project has been dramatically scaled back.
An Illinois man has been sentenced to 105 months in prison for setting a business fire during last year’s riots following the death of George Floyd. Twenty-nine-year-old Matthew Lee Rupert entered guilty pleas to federal charges of causing civil disorder, rioting, and possession of unregistered explosive devices. The federal prosecutor told the court Rupert drove more than 400 miles from his home “to engage in violence and destruction.” He went on Facebook Live showing his actions, saying he came “to riot.” The video showed Rupert handing out artillery-shell fireworks, encouraging violence against law enforcement officers, and urging others to damage property.
The U-S Department of Agriculture reports honeybee colonies are making a comeback in Wisconsin. The 25 thousand operations in the state containing five or more colonies are up by 56 percent over last year. That figure was as of January 1st. Wisconsin producers brought the number of colonies up to 37 thousand by the end of March. While the overall number was growing, an estimated 25 hundred colonies were lost in the first quarter of 2021. Scientists say Varroa mites were the top stressors in Wisconsin.
A special Minnesota legislative session could be called for September to determine which front-line workers would share 250 million dollars. A special legislative commission is preparing recommendations for those payments. The head of the AFSCME (AFFS me) union says all essential workers play a highly significant role in fighting the pandemic. Deb Pavlica says clinical nursing staff, health care providers, dental assistants, laboratory technicians, admissions clerks, and many others deserve consideration.
Governor Tim Walz announced Wednesday that employees of all state government agencies will be required to show proof of receiving one of the emergency use authorized COVID-19 shots this fall or face regular testing. In a statement, the governor urged other employers to take similar steps. Those workers who exercise their right not to be vaccinated will be required to receive a negative COVID-19 test at least once a week in order to work on-site. Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka called a vaccine requirement divisive and unproductive. The deadline for workers to show proof of vaccination is September 8th.
The U-S Postal Service is starting a big hiring campaign before the holiday season starts. The post office needs more people to handle the expected increase in mail. Last year, it hired 100 thousand people, but officials say the number of retirements is forcing them to recruit new bodies like they never have had before. The application process is completed online. Starting pay is almost 19 dollars an hour, with increases after you’ve been on the job for a year and a half.
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