Friday, April 1, 2022

Local-Regional News April 1

One person is dead after a one-vehicle accident in Pepin County Thursday night.  According to the Pepin County Sheriffs Department, 54yr old Tamara Jo Ellen Flynn was traveling eastbound on Hwy Z when she lost control on a sharp curve and overturned several times into a field.  Flynn was ejected from the vehicle and was prounounced dead at the scene.  Alcohol, excesssive speed, and not wearing seatbelt all appeared to be contributing factors in the crash and death.  


Pepin County Farmers met yesterday in Durand to discuss water quality issues.  The forum sponsored by Farmers For Health featured Walter Goldstein of the Mandaamin Institute discussing test plot results of corn hybrids that do not need nitrogen fertilizer, groundwater specialist Kevin Masarik from UW Stevens Point, and the Pepin County Health Department.  A round table discussion with area farmers discussed ways cover crops are being used on farms to help improve water quality.


UW-Eau Claire, the State of Wisconsin, and the Mayo Clinic partnered with healthcare startup Momentum West to discuss a new plan that could boost rural healthcare services in northwestern Wisconsin at an event Thursday.  The plan will use $9.4 million of state grants from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to increase the number of healthcare workers in the region.


Minnesota Congresswoman Angie Craig and Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind are commending U-S House passage of the Affordable Insulin Now Act.  Kind says it caps insulin prices at 35 dollars a month and saves American families thousands of dollars on their medication. Craig says no one should have to choose between paying for lifesaving insulin and other necessities like food and rent.


With motorists paying an average of more than four bucks a gallon for gas, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin says oil company execs have some explaining to do.    The Wisconsin Democrats' comments come as President Joe Biden has announced the largest-ever release of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in an effort to bring a little bit of relief at the pump.


The DNR will hold its annual spring hearing this month to gauge reaction to possible rule changes.  Among the hunting questions, this year is whether the state should go back to in-person deer registration stations, wearing backtags, and deer-tagging procedures.   Fishing questions include whether the walleye bag limit should be reduced from five to three on all inland waters, and whether to move the northern musky season to the first Saturday in May.  There are 63 questions total and online voting starts on April 11 at 7 p.m. and goes until 7 p.m. on April 14.


A bill passed unanimously by the Minnesota Senate includes eight-and-a-half-million dollars in drought relief funding and one-point-five million for the response to avian influenza. Senator Torrey Westrom of Elbow Lake says one dairy farmer he talked to drives every week from the Melrose area down to Renville to pick up a semi load of wet beet pulp. He says “that's something they’ve never fed their dairy cattle before, but that’s what's getting them through.” The House version of the bill has a provision to help restore trees damaged by the drought, but Representative Mike Sundin (sun-DEEN) of Esko has signaled he’s willing to temporarily set that aside so the drought and avian flu package can move forward.


Scientists with the Department of Natural Resources have confirmed a strain of avian flu has been identified in wild birds in south-central Wisconsin.  Samples were collected from several birds, including Cooper’s hawk and a bald eagle in Dane County.  Other wild birds were checked out in Columbia, Grant, Milwaukee, and Polk counties.  The D-N-R announcement follows reports of positive cases found by the U-S Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center.  Cases of bird flu were present last month at a commercial chicken operation in Jefferson County.


He was probably being urged to run for another term as governor.  Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson is thinking about another campaign at the age of 80.  He met with former President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida Thursday.  Wisconsin’s longest-serving governor last held elective office in 2001 when he left to become secretary of the U-S Department of Health and Human Services for President George W. Bush.  He lost a race for the U-S Senate 10 years ago against Tammy Baldwin and just served as interim president for the University of Wisconsin System.


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Authorities in central Wisconsin are still looking for the suspect who shot two people in Wisconsin Dells Wednesday morning.  Police say they believe they know who the shooter was but the suspect’s name hasn’t been released.  W-M-T-V reports officers and E-M-S crews were called early in the morning to an area on the frontage road.  The victims were taken to a local hospital and their medical conditions have been stabilized.  Investigators say they have determined the shooting happened about a mile and a half away from when the victims were found.


 One of the two deputies injured when they were attacked inside the Dane County Jail Wednesday had to seek hospital treatment.  Officials say 32-year-old Timothy Thomas of Portland, Oregon assaulted the two at about 8:30 a-m as they were conducting routine wellness checks and inspections.  W-K-O-W / T-V reports Thomas is being held at the jail in Madison by the U-S Marshal Service while it requests federal charges to be filed.  Additional deputies responded and put him in restraints.  Charges of battery to a law enforcement officer will be referred to the Dane County D-A.


Prosecutors are considering misdemeanor charges against a Washington County Board supervisor who dropped his gun during a recent meeting.   Investigators allege Timothy Michalak didn’t have a valid concealed carry permit when a gun dropped from his waistband at a county board meeting on March 9th. An investigation into the incident revealed that Michalak’s concealed-carry permit had expired. When he was asked about it, the sheriff's office alleges Michalak implied that as an elected official, he thought he was exempt from the law. Michalak is also the mayor of Hartford. The sheriff’s office is asking for misdemeanor weapons charges that could carry a ten-thousand-dollar fine.


The country is only heading into the midterm elections, but politicians are looking to the 2024 presidential elections. The new Marquette Law School Poll shows that President Joe Biden has the edge over three potential Republican Challengers nationwide. But poll director Charles Franklin says a lot of people didn't want to vote for any of the matchups.  Biden won out over former President Donald Trump, former vice president Mike Pence, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. 


Seventy-eight Minnesota farms, including some with histories dating back to the 1870s and ’80s, will be honored as “Century Farms” at the State Fair by the Minnesota Farm Bureau this year. The Bureau’s Rachael Peterson says the farms will play a special role in keeping the history of Minnesota agriculture alive. Century Farms must be in continuous family ownership for 100 years or more and be at least 50 acres in size. Twelve of the 78 honorees this year date back to the late 1800s, and one dates all the way back to 1859. Peterson says, “it is just really cool for people to go back and look through their history, their family records, to really know where their family farms came from and how they got to where they are today.”


The 60th Anniversary W-P-S Farm Show returned after a two-year absence during the pandemic.  The three-day event wrapped up Thursday on the E-A-A grounds in Oshkosh.  Farmers had the chance to observe the latest technology, but there have also been many discussions about the escalating cost of things like fuel and fertilizer.  The fertilizer may be in short supply for the planting season.  A crowd of 20-thousand visitors from across the Midwest was expected to attend by the time the event runs its course.

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