The student population for the Durand-Arkansaw School District remains stable. During last night's school board meeting, District Superintendent Greg Doverspike told the board the 2nd Friday in January Pupil Count was the same as in September. Doverspike also told board members that the early projected enrollment for the 22-23 school year showed a drop of only 6 students. Doverspike said the early projection will surely change before the beginning of the 22-23 school year.
The Pepin County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution asking the state government to address the Badger Care Egilibilty Cliff. Pepin County Human Services Director Paula Winter says people have lost their eligibility for Badger care after receiving a small wage increase. One possible solution is if a person receives a wage increase, they would be allowed to keep Badger Care but would have to participate in cost-sharing.
One person is dead and two injured after a two-vehicle accident in the town of Knapp on Wednesday. According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, a 57yr old female from Elmwood was killed when one of the vehicles failed to negotiate a curve on Hwy Q near Hwy N. The driver overcorrected and entered the opposite lane striking the other vehicle. The names of the victim and those injured have not been released. That accident remains under investigation by the Wisconsin State Patrol.
A Boyceville woman has been arrested for OWI 5th offense. According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, a State Trooper pulled over 51yr old Beth Mittelstadt for an equipment violation on 920th avenue just west of Hwy 25 in Dunn County early Wednesday morning. The trooper noticed signs of impairment and conducted field sobriety tests. Middelstadt was arrested for OWI and taken to a local hospital for an evidentiary blood test. She is also been charged with improper display of a License Plate and a Driver's License Restriction Violation.
Charges of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle have been filed against a 28-year-old driver in Taylor County. Paul Schmeiser of Curtiss is accused of being the driver in a fatal hit-and-run crash last October. W-E-A-U T-V reports the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office received a report just after 6:00 a-m October 31st about a person lying in the road in a pool of blood in the Township of Holway. An autopsy showed 27-year-old Titus Kottke of Athens had been hit by a vehicle. Schmeiser was arrested. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 3rd.
A Minnesota man will spend ten years in federal prison for dealing heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl in northwestern Wisconsin. Twenty-nine-year-old David Stone the Third of St. Paul pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs in 2019 and 2020. Prosecutors say Stone was orchestrating a large-scale drug trafficking operation while he was jailed for an unrelated matter. Investigators listened to more than three thousand hours of phone calls Stone made from jail. They say he would call his drug source in Minnesota to arrange the sales and co-conspirators in Wisconsin would pick up the meth and fentanyl.
The governor wants to cut you a check for 150 dollars. Republican lawmakers are thinking of tax cuts. At the center of the discussion is what to do with an estimated three-point-eight-billion-dollar budget surplus. W-M-T-V Television reports Governor Tony Evers signed an executive order Wednesday morning calling for a special session of the Legislature focused on what Wisconsin should do with the extra money. Republicans say Evers’ idea will be dead on arrival. Previous special sessions called by the Democratic governor have lasted just a minute or so.
The subpoena against a Milwaukee-area immigrant rights group has been dropped. Voces de la Frontera Action director Christine Neumann-Ortiz calls Wednesday’s move an “unconditional surrender” by Republicans. They hired special investigator Michael Gableman to review the November 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin. The immigrant rights group had filed a lawsuit against Gableman. Attorneys for Gableman’s investigation called the subpoena “moot” Wednesday and said they would no longer seek those records.
U-S Senator Tammy Baldwin is co-sponsor of a resolution opposing Canadian plans to locate a nuclear waste storage site near the Great Lakes Basin. The location would be at South Bruce, Ontario – about 30 miles from Lake Huron. The Wisconsin Democrat says preventing nuclear waste from being stored near the Great Lakes Basin is not just an enviroønmental goal, but an economic necessity. More than 40-million people in the U-S and Canada get their drinking water from the Great Lakes. The senators want President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to reach out to Canada and stop the project.
The University of Wisconsin System is moving to end campus mask requirements. Interim UW System President Tommy Thompson is working with campus chancellors to begin removing current mandatory mask requirements, with the intent to withdraw them as soon as March 1 and no later than spring break. Thompson said widespread vaccination on UW campuses and the rapidly decreasing prevalence of COVID-19 across the state present favorable conditions to lift existing indoor mask requirements. Vaccines and tests will still be available on campus, and students and employees can opt to wear masks if they wish.
Wisconsin Elections Commission technology director Robert Kehoe refuted numerous claims of elections fraud at a hearing of the Assembly Elections Committee on Wednesday. Kehoe says that a claim said that multiple people with similar names were registered to vote at the same address is easily explained. Kehoe says many of the claims made by supporters of former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election are misinformed and baseless and could be easily answered if brought to elections officials.
Minnesota lawmakers are working on a plan to bring sports betting to the state. All states bordering Minnesota already have it and 30 of the 50 states have some form of sports betting. Any plan would need to have the support of the state’s casinos, but tribal governments have indicated they are more open to the idea now. State Representative Zack Stephenson of Coon Rapids is leading the effort in the House of Representatives. He says Minnesota needs to allow bets inside casinos as well as wagers through mobile apps.
Two state lawmakers were speaking at a Capitol rally calling for the overturning of the 2020 presidential election results in Wisconsin Tuesday. State Representatives Timothy Ramthun and Janel Brandtjen – both Republicans – were two of the featured speakers. Brandtjen told the people in the crowd, “You’re not crazy,” for wanting to reverse the results – although there is no legal way to do that. Ramthun also spoke after announcing Saturday he’s running for governor. Leaders of his own Republican party have refused to take up a resolution he wrote to pull back the state’s 10 electoral votes.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission has withdrawn its guidance on ballot drop boxes. Wednesday’s unanimous vote by the six-member commission was in response to last week’s 4-3 decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The court’s conservative majority ruled drop boxes cannot be used for the April election, and that voters may not give their absentee ballot to someone else to return for them. The court will decide later whether absentee ballot drop boxes can be used for the August and November elections.
A Clark County judge has sentenced a man to three years in state prison and nine months in county jail for using his phone to record restroom videos. W-E-A-U T-V reports 21-year-old Moises Cuautle of Dorchester had been charged with invasion of privacy for two incidents at the Clark County Health Care Center. The first was in October 2020 and the second time was in April of last year. Witnesses told of seeing Cuautle holding a cellphone that looked like the one that was found taped inside a toilet bowl.
Wisconsin doctors say the omicron surge may have actually helped the state during its flu season. W-I-S-C T-V reports flu cases were increasing in late fall, but that’s when omicron began its surge. Those flu cases dropped in the New Year and have stayed low in number since then. Doctors at U-W Health say as COVID cases rose, people started taking more precautions -- and that had an impact on the flu. Last year’s flu season was “essentially non-existent,” says Doctor Dan Shirley. There have been more cases this winter, but still well below the usual number.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry has been one of the hardest-hit sectors, losing billions in revenue. Explore Minnesota Tourism Director Lauren Bennett-McGinty says she's optimistic more Minnesotans will hit the road in 2022. With the Omicron variant having hit its peak and sort of coming down at this point, she’s hopeful they’ll see travel start to go back up. Bennett-McGinty says, though, she doesn't expect to see a full recovery until late 2023 or early 2024. Over the past two years, the tourism industry has lost nearly 12 billion dollars as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Families in need of temporary housing no longer have to give up their cats, dogs, or other pets, thanks to a new program. W-C-C-O T-V says a 125-thousand-dollar grant from PetSmart Charities to the Animal Humane Society will provide up to 60 days of free housing for pets of displaced families, along with and preventative care such as sterilizations and vaccines. The A-H-S’s Anne Gass says folks need their support systems in crisis situations, which for many includes pets. Families who take part will receive regular updates on their pet’s health and wellness until they can be reunited. The program also provides pet food, litter and other aid for displaced pet owners whose pets are staying with a family member or friend.
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