The Durand City Council will reconsider the special assessment of property owners on Drier Street and Laneville Road. During last night's council meeting, Mayor Milliren told council members that since the preliminary vote to special asses was held, a council member had purchased property in the project area and that corporate counsel advised the Mayor the council should re-vote on the special assessment. The council will reconsider the special assessment during its December 29th meeting.
People in western Wisconsin are being told they should try to complete any errands or activities on their schedule Friday morning, getting that work finished before a major winter storm arrives. The National Weather Service has extended the winter storm watch to include all of the WRDN Listening area to be in effect from Friday afternoon until Saturday morning. When it’s all over, meteorologists are saying up to a foot of snow could be on the ground in some areas. The region between La Crosse and Eau Claire is expected to see the deepest accumulations. Travel conditions should improve by Saturday afternoon. The storm could actually mean rainfall in southeastern Wisconsin.
An Xcel Energy employee, was hurt while unloading barge equipment near the Wissota Hydro Power Plant in Chippewa Falls on Wednesday. According to the company the employee was taken to a local hospital then airlifted to the Twin Cities. Xcel says they are investigating the cause of the accident.
Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind says The Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support. This bill will help combat chronic wasting disease (CWD) by funding research into CWD prevention and supporting state and tribal efforts to develop and implement management strategies for the disease. The bill now awaits further consideration in the Senate.
A Barron County man is facing charges of possession of child pornography. According to authorities, an investigation of 71yr old Gregory Hammerel of Cameron began in September after they received a report from Google that a user had uploaded a video of potential child pornography. During a search of Hammerel's home, he admitted he had uploaded child porn images. Hammerel's next court appearance is December 22nd.
Wisconsin drivers are being reminded not to use their cell phones when they are passing a crash site. The Wisconsin State Patrol says the danger for troopers doesn’t end when they arrive. As other drivers approach another collision is more likely. Trooper Ashley Morales tells W-E-A-U Television she sees many drivers trying to take photos of the wreckage on their cell phones while passing by. That is a major distraction, and it is banned under Wisconsin state laws. Morales says right then is when drivers should be paying more attention. The new law establishes what is called an “emergency or roadside response zone” within 500 feet of the scene. You can’t use your cell phone there. And, if you hurt someone, new penalties have been created.
The finance committee with the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will discuss tuition hikes for out-of-state undergraduate and graduate students at a meeting today (Thursday). Tuition would go up by 743 dollars for out-of-state undergraduates at the Madison campus and that’s the biggest increase. Those students at seven campuses would be affected – Madison, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stout, and Whitewater. If the finance committee approves the hikes, the full Board of Regents will consider them Friday.
The man accused of damaging statues at the State Capitol during civil unrest in Madison is sentenced to two years in prison. Twenty-seven-year-old Marquan Clark pleaded guilty to criminal damage to property Tuesday after entering a not guilty plea last fall. Clark admitted to helping pull down the Forward and Hans Christian Heg statues on the Capitol square on June 23rd, 2020. He also pleaded guilty in federal court to throwing a Molotov cocktail at the City-County Building.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says he's preparing the Minnesota National Guard to support local law enforcement if necessary, during the manslaughter trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter. She's accused in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. The governor said Wednesday "mobilization to readiness" for the Guard follows a request from Brooklyn Center officials and Hennepin County. Walz says he's taking those steps "out of an abundance of caution" -- but notes at this time National Guard members will not be proactively taking posts throughout the Twin Cities.
With Wisconsin hospitals inundated with COVID-19 patients, Health Services Secretary designee Karen Timberlake says they’re requesting five 20 person support teams from FEMA. The request comes amid a critically low number of beds, and staffing challenges, as Wisconsin hospitals, deal with a wave of largely unvaccinated COVID patients.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says the election issues turned up by a just-completed review are so serious they have to be fixed. That review was conducted by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. Vos says the opportunity for fraud was found, but no actual fraud that would change the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state was found. He says it confirms that legislative Republicans are right when they push for election reforms. The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says the issues raised are too large and too important for Democratic Governor Tony Evers to ignore them.
A woman from Howard who was convicted of neglecting her son so badly he died has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Twenty-six-year-old Sagal Hussein had entered a no-contest plea to give charges last October. The body of her five-year-old son Josias Marquez was found in the trunk of her car last year. Hussein had told authorities the boy was living with his father in Michigan, but that wasn’t true. When the Brown County Sheriff’s Office found her vehicle parked at a friend’s home, it was taken to the Wisconsin Crime Lab, and the child’s decomposed remains were discovered in a duffel bag.
One Republican state lawmaker wants Wisconsin horses and buggies to be registered. State Representative Alex Dallman is backing a plan to let counties set up their own registration process for animal-drawn vehicles. The idea was proposed last year at the Capitol but didn’t get the needed support. Dallman says there are many horse-drawn buggies or carts in Wisconsin’s rural areas. He says registering them would make it easier for authorities to help when there has been an accident. The registration would include a fee capped at 100 dollars.
Minnesota is one of three states where Native American tribes are working together to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. Minnesota-based utility Native Sun Community Power Development says it will collaborate with Standing Rock Renewable Energy Authority and two dozen other partners on the project. They plan to create a network of 120 electric vehicle charging stations in Minneapolis, South Dakota, and North Dakota. A six-point-seven million-dollar federal grant will get the project started. Backers say the Upper Midwest Inter-Tribal Electric Vehicle Charging Community Network will link tribal communities spread across nearly 500 miles in those states.
Work has been completed on the largest-ever L-N-G bunkering barge built in the United State. Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding delivered the 340-foot “Clean Canaveral” to Polaris New Energy last week. The barge has the capacity for more than three million gallons of liquified natural gas. Bunkering barges can either transport the gas or can refuel other vessels which use L-N-G. Fincantieri is contracted to build a sister articulated tug-barge of about half the size.
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