Firefighters responded to three vehicles on fire at the Park and Ride lot at Hwy 12 and I-94 near Elk Mound on Thursday morning. According to the Dunn County Sheriff's Department, firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to other vehicles in the lot. A vehicle was seen leaving the lot after the fire was started and was pulled over in St. Croix County. Two individuals were taken into custody on unrelated charges. The cause of the fire is suspicious and remains under investigation by the Wisconsin Fire Marshall and Dunn County Sheriff's Department.
Incumbent 31st State Senator Jeff Smith has announced he will run for re-election this fall. Smith made the announcement on Saturday. Smith said his priorities during a second term would include more support for public schools, campaign finance reform, and fair legislative maps.
Winona native Tyler Jacob was released by Russian officials who detained him in Crimea about two weeks ago. Jacob had been living in Ukraine. U-S Senator Amy Klobuchar says U-S Ambassador John Sullivan brought up Tyler's case in discussions with Moscow. Klobuchar says she's "grateful that we were able to help bring him to safety."
A coalition of Wisconsin dairy farmers wants to chart a new course for the industry. Instead of limiting milk production, the Dairy Revitalization Plan focuses on reducing the negative impacts of uncontrolled expansion. The Dairy Together group worked with researchers at UW-Madison to create models for what a mandatory management program could look like and how it would affect farm and consumers prices. The group which includes members of both the Wisconsin Farm Bureau and the Wisconsin Farmers Union has held a recent series of meetings, hoping to include the proposal in the next farm bill.
A La Crosse man is dead after a one-vehicle accident on I-94 in Jackson County on Friday. According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, 42yr old Jamall Amir Cox-Bey was traveling westbound on I-94 near mile marker 111 when he lost control and his vehicle rolled over. Cox-Bey was transported to Regions Hospital but died from his injuries. That accident remains under investigation.
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health confirmed the state’s first cases of bird flu. Flocks in Meeker and Mower counties tested positive Friday. State Ag Commissioner Thom Petersen says they have staff and equipment to handle an outbreak. Peterson also stressed the risk to the public is very low and there are no food safety concerns as the birds produced are all tested before going to market. Impacted flocks are depopulated to prevent the virus from spreading and barns must be cleaned and disinfected before they can be used again.
The Wisconsin unemployment rate fell to two-point-nine percent in February, tying a record low mark for the state according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. The number represents the lowest mark since before the spring of 2020. The private sector added more than 20-thousand jobs to help push the unemployment rate down. Workforce participation remained unchanged from January.
Increased penalties for harming health care workers are now the law in Wisconsin. Assaults or threats against health care workers or their families is now a Class H felony, which means up to six years in prison, and up to ten thousand dollars in fines. Governor Evers signed the bill into law Thursday. Wisconsin Hospital Association President and CEO Eric Borgerding say threats are pushing people to choose between caring for patients or leaving the profession. The hospital association’s most recent annual workforce report finds vacancies went up last year for many hospital jobs.
The chair of the state veterans board has not resigned, despite a request from the governor’s office. Thirty-eight-year-old Curtis L. Schmitt Junior chairs the Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs. Schmitt pleaded not guilty in January to three felony counts of possession of child pornography. He’s due back in court in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Governor Tony Evers appointed Schmitt in 2019 and he was unanimously confirmed by the state Senate. Evers’ requested that Schmitt resigns from the board, but the governor’s office said that has not happened. Schmitt remains listed as chair on the board’s website.
The U-S Postal Service has placed its first order for the next generation of mail vehicles with Oshkosh Defense. Even though the company is based in Wisconsin those vehicles will be manufactured at a plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Oshkosh Corporation workers had lobbied the company to build them here. Production is scheduled to start next year. The first order is for 50-thousand vehicles, with a minimum of 10-thousand to be zero-emission battery electric vehicles. The total federal contract is worth almost three billion dollars. Oshkosh defense won the contract last February.
The lawyer for the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice heading the elections probe says decertifying the 2020 president results is impossible. Attorney James Bopp appeared in front of the Assembly Elections Committee Thursday. He told lawmakers the only way to remove President Biden “is by his death, resignation, impeachment, or disability under the 25th Amendment.” Just weeks ago, special investigator Michael Gableman told the same committee the Wisconsin Legislature should look seriously into decertifying the election results. Bopp said Thursday that trying to do that would be “pointless.”
Members of the Minnesota Ukrainian community were in the gallery as the Minnesota House unanimously passed a bill requiring the state to divest its holdings in entities in Russia and Belarus. The Minnesota Senate is expected to approve it early this week. State Representative Sydney Jordan of Minneapolis said, “our screens have been filled with images of bombed maternity hospitals, slain families, and frantic refugees lined up to enter other countries.” The legislation also prohibits state agencies from having contracts with companies in Russia and Belarus -- codifying a similar executive order by Governor Tim Walz.
The federal government has taken custody of a Missouri man who is accused of killing two Wisconsin brothers. K-S-H-B / T-V reports Garland Nelson will face fraud charges in federal court during a trial scheduled for early May. He will be prosecuted there while he waits for a state murder trial on the Missouri court calendar for next February. State prosecutors say Nelson killed Shawano County brothers Nick and Justin Diemel when they tried to collect on a 216-thousand-dollar bad check. He faces two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are reporting many non-prescription C-B-D products are mislabeled. A published study finds those products often don’t contain what the labels claim they do. W-M-T-V reports the researchers from the U-W School of Pharmacy found only 15-percent of the products examined were accurately labeled. Products like C-B-D-infused beverages, oils, and other miscellaneous items were checked. Seventy-eight percent of the products were over-labeled, meaning they contained less than 90-percent of the C-B-D they were supposed to contain. The scientists found some products had detectable levels of T-H-C.
After U-S officials announced the plan to accept 100-thousand refugees from Ukraine, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar says she thinks Minnesota will get a "higher percentage" of those 100-thousand people. Klobuchar cited the size of the Ukrainian-American population in Minnesota as a reason for her estimate. At the federal level officials indicated 100-thousand was just the first announcement when it comes to refugees from Ukraine being brought to the U-S.
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