The Mondovi School Board made no changes to the current covid-19 protocols for the district at this week's board meeting. Board members however discussed the possibility of notifying Buffalo County Health that the district would no longer be in charge of contact tracing. Board members decided to keep the current protocols in place for the time being but would discuss changes at the next meeting on November 10th.
The Wisconsin Building Commission has voted to release $15 million for the expansion of mental health treatment beds at HSHS Sacred Heart in Eau Claire and St. Joseph's Hospital in Chippewa Falls. Currently, there are 29 inpatient behavioral health beds at the two locations and this will allow 22 additional beds to be added. 33 of the beds will be designated for adults at Sacred Heart, and 18 for adolescents at St. Joseph's. Construction should begin sometime next year.
A driver from Augusta who fled a traffic stop last weekend has been arrested. An officer tried to stop the vehicle driven by 30-year-old David L. Schick of Augusta on Sunday just after 10:00 p-m. Even though he was given audible and visual signals to pull over, police say Schick sped away, ignoring stop signs and speed limits. When he finally stopped, officers say he refused to exit his vehicle for a long time. Schick made a court appearance Monday. Authorities are recommending charges of fleeing an officer, possession of meth, possession of drug paraphernalia, and several other violations.
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, along with Congresswoman Angie Craig, are asking the U-S Postal Service to issue a stamp commemorating the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the invention of water skiing on Lake Pepin at Lake City. Senator Smith says with more than 10-thousand lakes and Minnesotans' great love of the outdoors, it's no wonder Ralph Samuelson invented water skiing on Lake Pepin on July 2nd, 1922. Earlier this year, Lake City Mayor Mark Nichols and several residents submitted a proposal to the Postal Service’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee.
UW-Eau Claire has announced the university has received a $10 million donation, the largest donation in the university's history. The money will be used in the public phase of the foundation's Sustaining Human Innovation capital campaign, which aims to invest in sustainable, renewable investments in Blugold people, programs, and facilities. The donation comes from an anonymous member of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation board of directors.
Tomorrow (Saturday) is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. More than 270 local law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin will be taking part on Saturday. Find a location near you, and a list of acceptable items, online at dose of reality w-i-dot-gov. State residents turned in over 60-thousand pounds of medications during a drug take-back day this past April.
The Department of Natural Resources is receiving recent reports of bull elk sightings in southwestern and southeastern Wisconsin. D-N-R officials say young bulls leaving their home range is natural behavior during the fall breeding season. These bulls are some of the first seen southern counties in more than a hundred years. Wildlife supervisor Scott Roepke said local deer hunters aren't used to keeping any eye out for elk, so they should make sure they’ve got a white-tail in their sights before taking a shot this season. Elk were driven out of Wisconsin in the 1880s, but efforts to restore the population in the Black River Falls area began in 2015.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate remains at three-point-nine percent for the sixth month in a row. The Department of Workforce Development reports the state lost 100 private-sector jobs in September and total non-farm jobs remained the same as August. D-W-D Secretary-designee Amy Pechacek said, "although jobs remained relatively flat over the month, Wisconsin did see an increase in our labor force participation rate, and employment grew by 56-hundred over the month." The number of unemployed Wisconsinites declined by 12-hundred last month. The national jobless rate was four-point-eight percent in September.
Minnesota’s unemployment rate dropped one-tenth to three-point-seven percent in September. Department of Employment and Economic Commissioner Steve Grove says more unemployed Minnesotans moved into the workforce last month. Grove says we knew that coming into fall with kids going back to school and dynamics changing we expected to see or hoped to see the growth in unemployment and jobs. He hopes it's the beginning of a trend. Minnesota lost 416-thousand 300 jobs from February through April 2020 and has since gained back 70 percent of the total jobs lost.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction reports the latest statewide test scores are trending lower. Public school students did worse on reading, math, science, and social studies when they took last year’s standardized tests. Officials say math proficiency was down to 39 percent, social studies to 49 percent, and science proficiency dropped to 52 percent. Fewer students took the tests this time. The D-P-I reports 13 percent of all students opted out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost half the students in Milwaukee and Madison opted out.
Wisconsinites have begun making their travel plans for the holiday season. According to a new AAA Travel survey, 41% of Wisconsin residents book their holiday trips by the end of October. In Q4, 30% of Wisconsin travelers will go to a city/major metro destination, 20% will vacation at a beach destination, and 16% will go to a resort. “Time is of the essence for people who plan to take a flight this holiday season,” said Debbie Haas, Vice President of Travel for AAA – The Auto Club Group. “As we get closer to the holidays, airfares often rise as availability shrinks. We recommend you book by Halloween, for the best chance of finding the flight you want at a favorable rate.”
The Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office says the local D-H-S isn’t cooperating fully with its financial investigation. The County Department of Human Services reported a one-point-one-million-dollar error in its 2019 budget. That kicked off the investigation in May of last year. Sheriff Ron Cramer served warrants to D-H-S managers this week. The sheriff says his deputies have been met with denials and delays as they look into finances at the department.
The new legislative and congressional district maps are still expected to be decided in the courts. Republican leaders released their plans for redistricting Wednesday. They say votes to pass the redrawn political maps will be taken early next month. Democrats argue the maps released Wednesday are so gerrymandered they will have to be redrawn from scratch. Republicans are backing a lawsuit before the conservative-led Wisconsin Supreme Court, while Democrats have filed a federal lawsuit. Democratic Governor Tony Evers isn’t likely to sign off on the Republican maps – meaning a court will have to decide on the final boundaries.
Minnesota officials are looking for a convicted sex offender who’s apparently on the run. Fifty-six-year-old Daryl B. Quagon removed his G-P-S monitor after traveling to Stone Lake. The Minnesota Department of Corrections reports Quagon was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in 2000 and domestic assault two years ago. He had been recently released but was required to wear the tracking bracelet.
The Wisconsin Corn Growers is in favor of a plan for a fall sandhill crane hunt in Wisconsin. The group cites crop damage to farmers as a reason for the hunts. DNR wildlife damage specialist Brad Koele says juvenile cranes like to pick at seedling corn in the spring. Wisconsin's total silage corn harvest in 20-20 was worth over 2 billion dollars with another 50 million dollars in sweet corn harvested. That bill was authored by Republicans and backed by the conservative hunting organization Hunter Nation which recently forced last winter's wolf hunt.
Supply chain problems are resulting in some empty store shelves around the country and in Minnesota. Jamie Pfuhl with the Minnesota Grocer's Association says it's reminiscent of how things were at the beginning of the pandemic. She says everyone's a little fatigued and frustrated and when you go in the store and see those empty shelves it's a natural reflex to say, "oh no not again" and to get a little anxious. Pfuhl is urging customers not to take out their frustrations on employees. She's urging patience and says the supply problem may take some time to fix--especially with the busy holiday season rapidly approaching.
Plymouth and Lakeville, Minnesota – two pretty fine places to live. Those communities are ranked by the website WalletHub among the country’s best small cities to live in. Researchers say they considered affordability, economic health, education and health, quality of life, and safety for their rankings. Plymouth was 39th and Lakeville came in at 42nd. Both earned high marks for affordability. Eden Prairie and Savage finished just outside the top 50 small cities. The top Wisconsin Small City? Menomonie Falls ranked at 83rd.
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