A Menomonie man, convicted of multiple sex crimes has completed his sentence and is now back in Menomonie. According to the Dunn County Sheriff's Department, Brian Thibado was released Tuesday and is living on 463rd Street in Menomonie. He will be under supervision and is under GPS monitoring. Thibado was convicted in Dunn County of multiple sex offenses against children between 2010 and 2018, including second-degree sexual assault of a child.
At a special board meeting Tuesday night, the Plainview-Elgin-Millville School Board voted to select the district’s next superintendent. The board voted and selected Darrin Strosahl, the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Operating Officer at Northwest Technical College in Bemidji, Minnesota, to be the superintendent. Stroshal is taking over for Bill Ihrke who will retire at the end of the school year. Strosahl is expected to start on July 1st.
Residents of Pepin and Pierce County will have the opportunity to get rid of unwanted hazardous waste items in April. The 2022 Spring Clean Sweep will be on April 23rd at the Pierce County Recycling Center in Ellsworth. Unwanted household chemicals like cleaners, solvents, paints will be accepted free of charge. Unused prescription drugs will also be accepted. For more information on the Clean Sweep, contact Pepin or Pierce County Solid Waste Departments.
The City of La Crosse has canceled an offer to purchase a motel that would have served as housing homeless residents. The City Council previously approved the use of one-and-a-half million dollars in American Rescue Plan funds to purchase the Maple Grove Motel. It would have served as a temporary place for homeless people to live while they looked for permanent housing and a location for treatment services for mental health and addiction. In a statement, La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds said that the purchase cancelation was due to “a failure to cure defects” at the property, following an inspection that found structural and electrical issues.
A Dane County judge is holding Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and members of the Wisconsin Assembly in contempt of court for failing to provide documents after they were ordered to do so. W-B-A-Y / T-V reports the records were part of a lawsuit over Michael Gableman’s election investigation. Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn had given Vos until November 19th to turn over the records and the response didn’t satisfy the judge. Wednesday's ruling stated, “the court concludes Robin Vos and the Assembly … have chosen to willfully violate a court order.” They have 14 days to submit sworn affidavits then the parties will face fines of a thousand dollars a day.
The 2022 tribal fishing season gets underway soon. Ojibwe tribal members have treaty-protected rights to fish in certain Wisconsin waterways, and anyone who interferes with that could face legal consequences. Department of Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole said the agency has “zero-tolerance” for harassment of tribal members exercising their rights to harvest fish using various methods, including spearing and netting. Attorney General Josh Kaul said any attempt to interfere with treaty fishing is illegal and should be reported to local law enforcement and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).
Naval ships worth millions of dollars are headed to dry dock. The U-S Navy is reportedly looking to shelve nine Littoral Combat Ships built in Wisconsin, including the U-S-S Milwaukee. The move is part of a larger plan to cut back on costs over the next five years. The L-C-S fleet never performed the way the Navy wanted and many of the ships are still not being used. The Department of Defense is looking to the future with a new class of missile frigates that could replace the fleet. Those ships will also be built in Wisconsin.
SMART Toyota in Madison says its new and used parking lot is normally filled with about 200 vehicles for sale. Right now, there are only 80 available. Wisconsin car dealerships simply can’t keep up with the demand for new or used vehicles. Before the pandemic, General Sales Manager Justin Jackson tells W-M-T-V cars would sit on the dealership lot for at least 45 days before they were sold – now, they’re gone in 12 days. Jackson says some customers might end up waiting a year to get the car they want. He says no one knows when the demand will subside.
Two months after he was charged with possession of child pornography, the head of the Wisconsin veterans policy board has resigned. Curtis Schmitt Junior sent a short resignation letter to Governor Evers Monday. Schmitt was charged with three felony counts of possession in January. He pleaded not guilty and the case is still pending. Evers asked him to step down the day after the charges were filed. The governor’s office said that request was ignored and Schmitt hadn’t responded to communication efforts.
“Quit sitting on the budget surplus” – that’s the message from the Education Minnesota teachers’ union to Senate Republicans, whose top priority is permanent tax cuts. Union president Denise Specht (SPECK) says she doesn’t know how we could even be talking about tax cuts “when we have school districts that have been starved for resources for decades.” Republicans respond the state has thrown money at public schools, but student test scores are static at best and the achievement gap hasn’t closed. They’re pushing “back to basics” and what they term school choice options for parents -- which opponents label as school vouchers.
Local officials say at least 62 voters in Kenosha County received the wrong ballots for the April 5th election. Test ballots were accidentally sent to voters in two wards in Somers. Those ballots come from the county and are used to test the voting machines. The Wisconsin Elections Commission says this kind of mistake happens a couple of times for each election and there are ways for local officials to fix the problem. The voters have been asked to destroy the bad ballots and the correct ones have already been sent to replace them.
Legislation co-sponsored by Minnesota Congressman Pete Stauber would ban imports of uranium from Russia. The Energy Information Administration says the U-S purchased more than 34 million pounds of uranium from 2016 through 2020. The Eighth District Republican says banning uranium imports from Russia can “stop funding for Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine, create jobs for American workers, and secure our national defense.” The U-S has already banned imports of Russian oil, natural gas, and coal.
Another report says too many people in Wisconsin drink too much. The report from the Wisconsin Council on Alcohol and other Drug Abuse says drinking and binge-drinking rates in Wisconsin are much higher than the national average. The report says 64-percent of people in Wisconsin have had a drink in the past month, and 21 percent have had four or more in one sitting. The report concludes higher taxes and higher prices could help lessen binge drinking. The group also says no more selling alcohol at gas stations might help.
A major soccer matchup could be taking place in Green Bay. A number of reports say Manchester City will play an exhibition game against German team Bayern Munich at Lambeau Field in July. The Packers hadn’t confirmed the reports as of Wednesday morning, but the team has said it will host a major event this year. It would be a bit of an informal exchange. The Packers will play their first regular-season game in London this fall.
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