Spring means prom for high school students. Durand-Arkansaw School Superintendent Greg Doverspike says the students are excited about this year's prom. The prom for Durand High School will be Saturday, April 30th.
April 30th is drug takeback day in Wisconsin. Pepin County Sheriff Joel Wener says while the sheriff's department won't a special dropbox on April 30th, there are permanent boxes throughout the county. Wener reminds residents to not dispose of unwanted drugs in the trash or by flushing down the toilet as that causes groundwater contamination.
A Republican bill to toughen the state’s unemployment rules has been vetoed by Governor Tony Evers. State Representatives Warren Petryk and James Edming say their legislation would have made it easier to track and prosecute unemployment fraud. It would have expanded the way someone could be removed from unemployment, required the Department of Workforce Development to conduct more audits, and required any additional federal unemployment assistance to pass first through the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee. The governor says Wisconsin has already lost out on federal funding through legislative interference and the measure would have just added more red tape to the process.
An Eau Claire business has settled on a 15-thousand dollar fine with OSHA after an employee death last year. Police say Clayton Park’s neck became trapped in heavy machines at American Phoenix and he was crushed last October. W-Q-O-W / T-V reports the federal agency cited the company for two serious safety violations, including the failure to have warning signs or guarding to keep people away from hazardous areas. The company has agreed to correct those safety issues and the fine was knocked down from the initial figure of just over 21-thousand dollars.
La Crosse officials say they are working to make Houska Park a safe place for the homeless population. W-K-B-T / T-V reports people who want to stay in the park over the next six months will have to register with staff members at the site Monday through Friday from 8:00 a-m to 8:00 p-m. The city will be adding surveillance cameras, lighting, and fencing – and a city-hired private security firm will make nightly checks. La Crosse says its homeless population has more than doubled – from around 120 people last year to 270 as the summer approaches.
Dane County Judge Frank Remington has ordered the Republican election review to stop deleting emails and texts. Thursday’s ruling is the latest in a series of legal maneuvers between the investigation led by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and the D-C-based watchdog group, American Oversight. That liberal group had previously succeeded in its efforts to get Gableman’s staff to turn over hundreds of pages of records. Gableman’s attorneys had said “documents and text messages that are not of use to the investigation” are routinely deleted. American Oversight asked Judge Remington to consider finding Gableman in contempt of court over the deleted communications.
Wolf hunting opponents turned back attempts to mandate a season in Minnesota if the federal government again takes the grey wolf off the endangered species list. During Senate debate of an environmental funding bill, Pine City Republican Jason Rarick told members they weren’t asking “to wipe the timber wolf out of Minnesota but said they want to “be able to manage their population,” just like the state does with deer, bears, and moose.” But Saint Paul Democrat Foung Hawj points out Indigenous Minnesotans consider the grey wolf sacred.
He lost his job and now the beer-drinking school bus driver in Green Bay has been charged with operating while intoxicated. W-L-U-K / T-V reports that 70-year-old James Martin Nelson was fired after he admitted he was drinking beer while driving a group of elementary students on a field trip to Madison. He was confronted when the bus arrived back at Lincoln Elementary in Green Bay Monday. When a preliminary breath test was administered Nelson blew a point-5-6, which is usually below the legal limit. However, the limit for operating a C-D-L vehicle is point-4-0. Several teachers and chaperones told officers the bus had drifted during the trip so much it hit rumble strips on the highway about five times.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says lawmakers need to pick up the pace on budget talks as a May 23rd deadline approaches in the current legislative session. He told reporters in Minneapolis Wednesday that the deadline is “carved in stone,” and says he will NOT call a special session if lawmakers don’t finish their work by the deadline. Walz says Minnesota has a budget surplus and state finances “are as solid as possible.” Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and the governor remain far apart on how to deal with the state’s nine billion budget surplus.
A Milwaukee area couple is accused of running a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission says Kay and Chao Yang used investor funds for personal items, lavish vacations, luxury goods, and real estate. At the same time, they were defrauding investors of millions of dollars. The Internal Revenue Service is also conducting a criminal investigation. The Yangs are accused of raising at least 16-million dollars from investors in the Hmong community. They told the victims they were making money when the money was being spent.
The deadline is the end of this month for farmers looking to grow and process hemp in Minnesota this season. So far, more than 200 people have applied for a 2022 license with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. More than 28-hundred acres and 318-thousand square feet of hemp were planted by 425 producers last year. M-D-A officials say first-time applicants need to submit fingerprints and pass a criminal background check. Hemp and marijuana are from the same plant and industrial hemp must have less than three percent of the psychoactive compound T-H-C. The T-H-C testing fee declined this season from 125 to 100 dollars per sample.
State lawmakers have some questions about what the Wisconsin National Guard is doing about sexual misconduct. Lawmakers plan to hold a public hearing on the matter this summer. An investigation was done into misconduct at the Air National Guard base in Madison in 2019. That resulted in the base’s commander being replaced last year. Lawmakers say they want to study the issue further.
A cool, wet spring in Minnesota doesn’t mean that a below-normal summer will follow. Assistant State Climatologist Pete Boulay says 2013, 2014, and 2018 all had spring cold spells and warm summer months. He specifically singles out 2018, when the month of April was very cold -- but on Memorial Day, central and southern Minnesota saw highs in the upper 90s and lows 100s. As for this weekend, Boulay says high temperatures could reach the 70s in many parts of the state. He also says spring rains have helped the levels on some drought-stricken lakes.
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