Polls are open from 7:00 a-m to 8:00 p-m today on Wisconsin’s Spring Non-Partisan Primary Election Day. Voters will be choosing mayors, city council members, county board supervisors, school board members, and judges across the state. There are several local referenda on the ballot. Officials are reminding voters to bring their photo I-D when they show up at the polling location.
A Galesville man is dead after falling into Beaver Creek. According to Galesville police, first responders pulled 63yr old Robby Sacia from the water Sunday afternoon. Live saving measures were taken, but Sacia was pronounced dead. The incident remains under investigation.
With Spring here another season is Wisconsin is beginning, road construction. In Dunn County, crews will be replacing the Hwy 12 Bridge at Wilson Creek near Knapp through August. Those using the North Crossing will see construction to improve safety at the North Crossing Jeffers Road intersection. Later this summer, bridges over the east and west channels of the Trempealeau River will be replaced on Hwy 35-54 in Buffalo and Trempealeau Counties.
Groundbreaking is tentatively set for August on a replacement for the Northern Wisconsin State Fair’s red barn coliseum. W-E-A-U / T-V reports the historic structure was destroyed in a windstorm. The fair’s executive director, Rusty Volk, says about 80 percent of the six-million dollars needed for the project has been raised. Volk says there will be four animal buildings consisting of two cattle barns, a coliseum show arena, and a livestock barn. The new coliseum will be eight thousand square feet and it will be heated and air-conditioned – meaning it will be a year-round venue. Volk calls it “an education campus for youth.” It should be open in time for the 2023 Northern Wisconsin State Fair.
Monday, Winona City Council voted in favor of adding police bodycams for officers. The bodycams would be used for all officers. Police Chief Tom Williams said the department currently has 38 officers. The total cost for the cameras and the technology to run them costs the city $330,000. The city also received a $78,000 grant from the state to help fund the cameras. The Winona County Sheriff's Department is also purchasing bodycams for all deputies in the department.
A Slayton, Minnesota, man was sentenced to a year in prison for committing U-S Department of Agriculture (USDA) farm loan fraud. 54-year-old Mark Engelkes pledged more than 15-thousand bushels of soybeans as collateral to the USDA in order to obtain loan proceeds of nearly 80-thousand dollars. During the application process, Engelkes agreed to not move or dispose of the collateral until the loan was paid in full. However, the U-S-D-A learned in 2016 that Engelkes had removed the pledged grain without prior approval and sold it. Engelkes also defaulted on other farm financings from the U-S-D-A, resulting in a total loss amount to the government of more than 435-thousand dollars.
Authorities in Bayfield County say a two-year-old girl was killed over the weekend when a family member accidentally ran over her with a vehicle. The child suffered crushing injuries to her head. Investigators say the family member was moving their car in the parking area at the residence and didn’t see the victim riding a small bicycle nearby. Life-saving measures were administered at the scene by police officers, and the girl was taken to a local hospital. She died there. W-T-M-J / T-V reports authorities say the death appears to be accidental.
A complaint against Milwaukee’s Summerfest maintains the music festival is not really a non-profit. Lawyer Eddie Greim has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service, saying Summerfest’s non-profit status exempts the festival from all manners of taxes that other for-profit concert venues have to pay. He’s not said why he filed the complaint. Summerfest organizers say the I-R-S has ruled in their favor in other similar complaints in the past.
The owner of Skateland in Waukesha says the company has updated its policies on who can come into the skating rink. The change was announced in a Facebook post Friday. The move comes after reports last week that the rink wouldn’t let teenagers from Milwaukee enter the business. Lacey Anderson, the mother of a black teen from Milwaukee, told reporters her daughter had been turned away. Shortly after that, Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy reported that he and his daughter were admitted with no questions. They are both white. The rule about Milwaukee teens had apparently been in place for almost eight years.
The Manitowoc Company says it has cut its business with Russia. Manitowoc makes industrial cranes in northeastern Wisconsin. It says it has been curtailing its operations since the invasion of Ukraine. Manitowoc has stopped taking new orders from Russia. The company says it has about 20 employees in Russia and sales to the country represent less than two percent of total sales since 2021. President and C-E-O Aaron H. Ravenscroft tell W-L-U-K / T-V the company will comply with all sanctions and it is doing its best to support local team members there.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission is implementing some of the 30 recommendations put forth by the Legislative Audit Bureau. Administrator Meagan Wolfe says the commission “takes the Audit Bureau’s recommendations seriously.” Wolfe says they met to consider and implement the ones that will improve the electoral process in Wisconsin. W-T-M-J / T-V reports the changes to include increased training for clerks in topics like absentee ballot certificate envelopes, ballot processing, and post-election data entry. Scope statements have been written on how missing witness address information is completed on absentee ballot certificate envelopes, polling place emergency planning, and certification and training of municipal clerks.
As the planting season approaches Wisconsin farmers are struggling to find the workers they need. W-B-A-Y / T-V reports those farmers to need help in the fields and in the processing plants. The situation has some farmers turning to automatic equipment. There’s a big cost upfront, but it may make an operation more efficient. Another option for Wisconsin farmers is applying for a federal H-2-A program to employ foreign nationals to fill temporary positions. That process is long and difficult and it may force automatic equipment on some producers.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order waiving trucking regulations to help fight the spread of avian influenza and mitigate the risk to Minnesota’s poultry industry. The state is ranked first in the nation in turkey production, with more than 660 turkey farms that raise about 40 million birds annually. And turkey production generates 774 million in cash receipts. The current H-5-N-1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Minnesota poses a high risk to poultry but a low risk to the public, and there is no food safety concern for consumers.
A bipartisan bill to help fix supply chains and ease shipping backlogs is one step closer to becoming law after passing the U-S Senate on a voice vote. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar accused international shipping conglomerates of “ripping off American farmers, manufacturers and consumers by charging sometimes four times what they used to charge for shipping.” She says there’s no excuse for it because they’ve made seven times the profit from one year to the next. Klobuchar also says the bill will help American exporters get their goods to market in a timely manner for a fair price and help level the playing field for American manufacturers and consumers. A similar bill has already passed the U-S House.
A month-long crackdown on distracted driving in Minnesota is underway. Mike Hanson with the Office of Traffic Safety says that while there’s been progress in preventing distracted driving, they’ll be providing extra resources for law enforcement partners. There’ll also be a media campaign to alert motorists of the crackdown. Hanson says distracted driving contributed to one in nine crashes from 2017 to 2021. And somewhere between 25 and 30 people a year are still being killed on Minnesota roads due to distracted driving. The extra enforcement campaign runs through April 30th.
No comments:
Post a Comment