The Durand City Council has approved the final plans for the new Tarrant Park Pool. At last night's city council meeting, members approved the plan which would replace the current pool and bathhouse at a cost of approximately $3 million. Request for bids will be sent out on June 15th, opened on July 15, and a final contract would be approved by July 27 with construction to begin in August. Meanwhile, city crews have filled the current pool and superintendent Matt Gillis reports the furnace to heat the water is down to only one stage, and there is some pitting and cracks in the sides of the old pool. The pool is set to open next week.
Convicted sex offender Allan Ownes is set to be released back to Pepin County on June 7th. Pepin County Sheriff Joel Wener says Ownes has completed his prison sentence and now will be on extended supervision. When Owens is released, he will be required to meet with local authorities at the Government Center and at that time will be fitted with a GPS monitor and will be required to check in with the Sheriff's Department.
As the construction of the new wastewater treatment plant continues in Mondovi, many residents are receiving sticker shock over the increased water and sewer rates in the city. While Mondovi Mayor Brady Weiss sympathizes with residents over the increased rates he says the city had no choice but to replace the 80yr old treatment plant as it did not meet DNR guidelines for wastewater treatment. Weiss says he is glad the city acted when it did especially with the increasing construction costs and supply chain issues that are happening now for other projects. The new plant is expected to be completed later this year.
A former Altoona-based financial adviser is scheduled to be sentenced in late August for defrauding his clients. Michael Shillin pleaded guilty Monday to one count of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud as part of a plea deal. W-L-A-X/T-V reports that eight other charges will be dismissed as part of the agreement. Shillin was accused of falsely telling clients he’d purchased stocks for them and netted them hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he was accused of defrauding a bank by using a client’s information to take out loans worth 450-thousand dollars.
Donated furniture and infrastructure items from a retired power plant could pay off big for the La Cross-area Habitat for Humanity chapter. W-K-B-T/T-V reports that about 30-thousand pounds of items from the shuttered Genoa Station number Three were donated this month to the Habitat Re-Store’s Reclaim Salvage program. The retired plant’s parent company, Dairyland Power Cooperative, says the donated items could net 19-thousand dollars in funding for the charity. An earlier donation of more than 21-thousand pounds of items from the Genoa plant generated more than 14-thousand dollars for the La Crosse-area Habitat for Humanity.
There’s a renewed call for the Republican-controlled Legislature to take up a pair of gun safety bills. The measures would require universal background checks for all gun sales and implement a "red flag" law allowing judges to take guns away from people determined to be a threat to themselves or others. Democratic Governor Tony Evers called a special session of the legislature in 2019 to pass them, but Republican leaders simply gaveled the Senate and Assembly in and out without even debating the bills. On Wednesday, state Representative Melissa Agard of Madison began circulating a petition to reintroduce both bills.
Golden Valley-based General Mills plans to sell the iconic Hamburger Helper brand and its Suddenly Salad side dishes for 610 million dollars. Eagle American Foods Group is purchasing the brands with the sale expected to finalize later this year. General Mills says it is continuing to reshape its business portfolio. Net sales for the Helper and Suddenly Salad totaled approximately 235 million dollars in fiscal 2021.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has heard arguments for keeping a parent anonymous who suing to overturn the Madison School District's policy to not out transgender students. Lawyers from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty argued that forcing the parent to be identified would open them up for reprisal from the community. Lawyers for the school district argue that without knowing who that parent is, the district has no idea if the person is even a parent in the district or if they have a student there. The district says they want to keep students safe from harassment and bullying if they want to transition genders, while opponents say the district has no right to meddle with parents' decisions.
Police in Madison say a gun found in a student’s backpack at La Follette High School was a toy airsoft gun that looks like a real gun. W-M-S-N/T-V reports the airsoft gun was found in a student’s backpack Monday morning after two staff members overheard a conversation between two teens about a gun. The unidentified teen that had the airsoft gun was taken to the Madison Juvenile Reception Center. A spokesman for the school district says, “bringing any weapon into our school buildings is a very serious matter and we are treating it as such.”
Legislation strengthening criminal background checks for gun purchases passed the U.S. House more than a year ago. The Bipartisan Background Checks bill – written to address the so-called “gun show loophole - passed in March 2021 on a vote of 227 – 203. The vote was bipartisan, with nine Republicans voting for it, none of them from Wisconsin. A second bill, preventing gun sales from going forward if a background check is not completed within three days, was also opposed by Wisconsin’s five Republican House members and Democrat Ron Kind. Neither bill is likely to get an immediate vote in the U.S. Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he wants to give Democrats and Republicans time to negotiate.
Sheriff's deputies have arrested a man in connection with a scam against elderly residents in Central Wisconsin. Police say Alejandro Garcia of Miami called up the victim in the case and claimed that woman's granddaughter had been in a serious accident and needed 40-thousand dollars in bail money. He went to the victim's house in person to collect the money and then tried asking for another 100-thousand dollars. That's when the woman called the police. He's now being held on a 30-thousand dollar cash bond. Police say other residents got scammed out of 80-thousand dollars in similar crimes.
Advocates are urging Minnesota lawmakers to return to the Capitol for a special session and approve permanent wage increases for long-term care workers. Kari Thurlow with Leading-Age Minnesota says a severe workforce shortage means over 400 senior care settings, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes -- one-sixth of those in Minnesota -- are at risk of closing. Thurlow says she’s not overstating the danger. She says there are over 23 thousand open positions in long-term care facilities, and the state needs to set reimbursement rates so workers can earn family-sustaining wages.
Recent college graduates in Wisconsin are being targeted by scammers, hoping to steal their financial information. The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau describes one scam that involves someone posing as a school official claiming that a portion of the graduate’s tuition has not been paid, and unless they pay immediately their degrees will be revoked. Another scam targets those wanting to delay repaying student loans due to the pandemic -- they’re asked to fill out a form with their personal information and to pay a fee. And other scams appear in the form of job offers, fake credit cards, online shopping, and others. You can contact the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau for more info.
A cow/calf producer in northern Minnesota is worried about wolf attacks this summer. Shayne Isane of Roseau County says most encounters occur when his cattle are out on the range. Isane, who serves as the District Seven director for Minnesota Farm Bureau, says he’s disappointed a U-S District Court in California vacated a 2020 decision to remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List. He calls the decision “frustrating” and “big step backward.” Earlier this month, legislation was introduced in Congress that would require the Secretary of the Interior to reissue the final rule delisting the gray wolf and make it non-reviewable by a judge.
The latest graduating class of troopers to join the Minnesota State Patrol includes identical twin sisters. Jessica and Jamie Bird were among 12 graduates who joined the Patrol Tuesday at a ceremony in Minneapolis. They told K-A-R-E/T-V they decided together to pursue a career in the State Patrol while in college. The Bird sisters will both be stationed at the Minnesota State Patrol station in Montevideo.
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