The Tarrant Park Pool was the topic of discussion during a closed session at last night's Durand City Council Meeting. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says the Swim Club is working with some major donors and they would like a specific plan from the city. The City has pledged $500,000 to the project along with a $275000 pledge from the Durand-Arkansaw School District.
There’s a third Democrat running for Congress in Wisconsin's 3rd District next year. Rebecca Cooke of Eau Claire serves on the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and is a small business owner. Cooke joins state Senator Brad Pfaff of Onalaska and Brett Knudsen of Holmen in the race for the Democratic nomination. They hope to succeed in retiring Congressman Ron Kind. Republican candidate Derrick Van Orden is running again after a narrow loss to Kind in 2020.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice D-C-I is investigating a fatal shooting during a Chippewa County traffic stop last week. Investigators say 30-year-old Lance Stelzer was operating a moped in the Town of Goetz when he was pulled over. The situation escalated on October 8th shortly after 7:00 p-m when Stelzer and Sergeant Martin Folczyk started fighting. The sergeant shot the man after Stelzer sprayed him with an unidentified substance. Stelzer was rushed to a nearby hospital, but he died before he got there. Sergeant Folczyk is on administrative leave while the Division of Criminal Investigation examines the case.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and the Chippewa County Health Department is reporting a horse has tested positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis. This is the first case of EEE reported in Chippewa County and is caused by the bite of infected mosquitos. No EEE cases in humans have been reported in Wisconsin this year. There were two human cases last year.
Minnesota State Representative John Thompson has to serve one year of probation and pay a 100-dollar fine for driving with a suspended license in July. He was sentenced Wednesday for the traffic stop where Thompson showed a Wisconsin driver's license and accused the St. Paul police officer of racial profiling. He has also been under fire for past domestic violence accusations. Thompson was removed from the Minnesota House D-F-L caucus and now serves as an independent. He has refused calls by Governor Walz and other prominent Democrats to resign his seat.
The city of Eau Claire has shut down seven of its 16 water wells after tests found levels of PFAS (PEE foss) contamination exceeding recommended guidelines. PFAS are sometimes called “forever chemicals” and have been linked to liver damage, decreased fertility, obesity, cancer, and other health challenges. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says it is working on a plan to contain the chemicals. Wisconsin Public Radio reports Eau Claire is pumping five million gallons of water per day from three of the wells to keep the contamination from moving to city wells not yet affected.
The U-S Drug Enforcement Agency is warning that two out of every five fake prescription pills contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl. Federal agents are reporting a big jump in the availability of those pills. Authorities in Wausau report 10 people have died this year alone due to a suspected overdose. Wausau Police Captain Ben Graham tells W-S-A-W Television news a lethal dose of fentanyl is only two milligrams. Graham says the combination of fentanyl and heroin is causing an increase in overdoses.
U-S Senator Tina Smith says she wants answers from the U-S Postal Service about its recent changes to first-class mail services that lead to longer delivery times and increased costs. The Minnesota Democrat says people depend on the postal service to fill their prescriptions, to pay their bills, to vote, to pay their taxes, and this is especially a big deal in rural communities, tribal communities or for people who are isolated at home. Smith says that she understands the post office's "desire to overcome budget shortfalls" but adds that the new standards will result in the slowest mail delivery that we've seen in 50 years.
The disagreement over who Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers allows attending his press briefings could wind up before the country’s high court. The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy filed a lawsuit two years ago claiming its reporters’ freedom of the press and equal access were being denied. Now, that conservative think tank and former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are asking the U-S Supreme Court to hear the challenge. Last year, a judge ruled MacIver can still report on Evers without attending press briefings and being on the governor’s email list.
A 41-year-old Waunakee woman will be charged with first-degree reckless homicide for a wrong-way crash on Interstate 94 earlier this month. Monroe County prosecutors are also charging Carrie J. Herbst with three counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. Three people were injured on October 3rd when she exited the interstate near Warrens, then drove up the exit ramp and traveled west in the eastbound lanes for about a mile before hitting a second vehicle head-on. One of the injured people in the vehicle she hit died later.
A federal grand jury has indicted a Georgia man for threatening Kenosha County elected officials and law enforcement authorities. The threats were made last year during the unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Minjie Cao of Alpharetta, Georgia was arrested last week. He has been indicted on three counts of a threat to injure. His emailed threats were directed at Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth, Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian, and a third period identified only by the initials “D-M.” The 26-year-old Cao made a federal court appearance in Georgia last week. He will be arraigned by video and have a virtual plea hearing next week in a Milwaukee federal court.
Just over fourteen and a half percent of Wisconsin kids ages 10 to 17 is obese, giving Wisconsin a ranking of 27 among the 50 states and D.C., in the annual State of Childhood Obesity report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation’s Jamie Bussel (bah-SELL) says the pandemic has led to more sedentary lifestyles. The study suggests solutions that include making universal school meals permanent and broadening federal programs like WIC and others which are designed to pull families from poverty.
The Minnesota D-N-R is requesting more than 13-million dollars for programs to address the impacts of drought in Minnesota. The agency proposes three million dollars for municipal, tribal, and other water systems -- to repair leaky pipes, meters, hydrants, and treatment plants, plus install more water-efficient equipment. The D-N-R also wants five-and-a-half million dollars to re-plant public and private forests where seedlings were irrecoverably damaged by drought, plus four-and-a-half million dollars in grants for community shade trees. Commissioner Sarah Strommen says the measures will "conserve water and preserve our precious tree cover."
One item that's tangled up in the stalemate at the Minnesota Legislature over COVID worker bonuses, is ten million dollars in drought relief for farmers that Governor Tim Walz is asking lawmakers to approve. State Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen says the situation has eased somewhat, but 50 percent of Minnesota is still in "severe" drought and 20 percent remains in the "extreme" category. Petersen says a lot of damage was done in August and in July. The Walz administration proposes five million dollars for what it calls "rapid response" grants to farmers, plus an additional five million in zero-interest loans.
The U-W System is celebrating 50 years of educating Wisconsin students. President Tommy Thompson says the system is Wisconsin’s greatest asset – other than its people. He points out that millions have been educated and that improves “the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities.” Governor Patrick J. Lucey signed legislation creating the U-W System on October 12th, 1971. Thompson says the various campuses educate about 165 thousand students every year, with 37 thousand of them graduating to quality careers.
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