A special day for the seniors at Durand High School as its graduation day. Graduation will again be held at the Bauer Built Sports Complex. Durand-Arkansaw Superintendent Greg Doverspike says while many districts did outdoor graduation due to the pandemic, many have gone back to graduation indoors. Doverspike says the administration decided to let the seniors vote on where they wanted graduation. Graduation begins at 7pm tonight at the Bauer Built Sports Complex.
Covid-19 cases are increasing across Western Wisconsin. According to Alex Strand with the Pepin County Health Department, Pepin County is one of the few counties in our area where the case level remains low. Strand says she is getting 2-3 new positive cases a day, and hospitalizations remain low in Pepin County.
Severe Storms once again moved through Western Wisconsin yesterday. Most of the damage was in the Northern Pierce, St Croix-Dunn Counties where two-inch hail and strong winds damaged buildings downed power lines, and downed trees. The National Weather Service says cooler weather is expected for the upcoming weekend.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is being asked to suspend the law license of the former Eau Claire County district attorney. The request has been made by the Office of Lawyer Regulation. It wants Gary King’s license to be suspended for at least nine months. King was accused of sexual harassment in his office and of working while intoxicated. The latest complaint was filed last week. Several former employees say King fell asleep during meetings, missed court dates, had red eyes, and refused to take a breathalyzer test. He’s also accused of inappropriate behavior with female workers in his office.
The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is taking steps to reduce flood risks along the Mississippi River. The Corps’ St. Paul District will open the gate of the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam at Minneapolis due to high flows along the river. The operating plan for the lock sets the opening threshold at 52-thousand cubic feet per second -- current flow levels are over 50 thousand. The Corps says the gate at Upper St. Anthony will remain open until flows return to the normal range of around 40-thousand cubic feet per second. Officials are also reminding boaters to remain cautious on the Mississippi as the high currents can be swift and cover logs and debris.
A judge says the investigator hired by Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to look into the 2020 election appears to have “gone rogue” and “run amok” in refusing to comply with the state’s open records law. Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn on Thursday gave the Republican Vos “one last chance” to seek records requested from investigator Michael Gableman before she fines Vos for contempt. Vos a year ago hired Gableman with $676,000 in taxpayer money to investigate the election won by President Joe Biden. Vos paused the investigation last month, pending the outcome of various lawsuits.
The U-S House on Wednesday approved 28 million dollars in emergency funding to help address the baby formula shortage. The bill will provide funding for stepped up Food and Drug Administration oversight of formula production and distribution. It passed with only 12 Republican votes, none from Wisconsin Republicans. The shortage is driven in part by the closure of an Abbott Nutrition plant in Michigan after four infants who had formula from the plant were hospitalized with bacterial infections. Wisconsin’s delegation unanimously backed a bill that would loosen restrictions on types of formula that can be purchased by families on the federal low-income WIC program, which relies largely on products produced by Abbott.
Republicans and some Democrats in the Minnesota Senate have renewed their perennial push to allow more nuclear power plants in Minnesota. They passed a bill Wednesday afternoon which has little chance in the D-F-L-controlled Minnesota House. Shoreview Democratic Senator Jason Isaacson says whether it’s a large conventional plant or smaller new-tech ones that the bill would allow, there’s still no plan to deal with nuclear waste. Princeton Republican Andrew Mathews responds efforts are underway to see if nuclear waste can be reprocessed. Spent nuclear fuel is stored in dry casks outside two nuclear plants in Minnesota -- at Prairie Island near Red Wing and in Monticello.
Minnesota has reported its lowest unemployment rate in recorded state history--since data collection began in 1976. Minnesota’s unemployment rate fell to two-point-two percent in April. And Minnesota gained 11-thousand-900 jobs last month. The Department of Employment and Economic Development says this continues a seven-month growth streak for Minnesota. In Wisconsin, the unemployment rate remains at an all-time low. April’s seasonally adjusted rate sits at 2.8 percent, unchanged from the March figure. It
Congressman Tom Tiffany says the 1973 Roe-v-Wade decision by the U-S Supreme Court circumvented the will of the people in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Republican made the comments during a Wednesday hearing on abortion rights at the U-S Capitol. Tiffany says Wisconsin should have the right to determine its own abortion laws. During the hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, he said the Supreme Court ruling ran counter to what the people in Wisconsin wanted.
The Better Business Bureau (B-B-B) is warning new parents to watch for scams as a result of shortages in the supply of baby formula. The B-B-B’s Bao Vang says, “the buyer contacts the seller via chat or direct message showing photos of baby formula cans available -- the buyer then makes a payment through a peer-to-peer platform such as PayPal or Venmo and then you wait for the product to arrive, but it never does.” Vang says to watch for signs of potential online scams, including positive reviews on the website that have been created by scammers, along with misspellings, grammatical errors, or other descriptive language that is inconsistent with the product. Another sign is the lack of a brick-and-mortar address, or the address shows a Google map image as a parking lot residence or unrelated business than what’s listed on the website.
The Republican-controlled Minnesota state Senate says “no” to Democrats’ move for a debate and vote on a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota. Burnsville D-F-Ler Lindsey Port argues it would give law enforcement more time to focus on other types of crime. Alexandria Republican Bill Ingebrigtsen says not only would it NOT help police, but they’ll be busier “cleaning up a lot more accidents on our highways.” The Democrat-controlled Minnesota House passed a bill last year to legalize recreational marijuana, but it’s had no traction in the Republican-controlled Senate. Backers will likely try to make it an issue in the upcoming elections.
Local government officials received death threats almost two years ago as protests and unrest often filled the streets of Kenosha. The person who made the threats has pleaded guilty to one count of cyberstalking. Twenty-seven-year-old Minjie Cao was living in metro Atlanta at the time. W-I-S-N / T-V reports the Georgia man admits he emailed death threats to three Kenosha officials. The U-S Department of Justice says Cao also made threatening phone calls. He could face up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in October.
Former U-W System Interim President Tommy Thompson says he hopes the new chancellor for the Madison campus doesn’t bring a “California philosophy” with her. The former governor is questioning the hiring of U-C-L-A law school dean Jennifer Mnookin to replace Rebecca Blank. Thompson tells the Journal Sentinel he was surprised the Board of Regents hired Mnookin. At a Tuesday news conference, she said she was willing to meet with her Republican critics – who have characterized her as a liberal radical.
This spring, the weather has not been the only frustration for a southeast Minnesota farmer. Ryan Buck of Goodhue has been waiting on an equipment order since last June but says it hasn’t arrived yet because “they’ve been missing some parts and having some troubles” at his local dealership. Buck says he’s never seen supply chain issues like this before. He also says area dealerships are telling him if he ordered a new tractor today it probably wouldn’t arrive until the fall of 2023.
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