The Durand City Council's Public Welfare Committee held a meeting last night to discuss the proposed dog park that would be located at the O.R. Hanson FFA Park in Durand. According to Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren, the city can only use the land for a park and nothing more. Residents near the land have come out opposed to the site being used for a dog park citing traffic and other concerns. Milliren says the city council is set to decide whether or not the dog park will be located at that site during its next meeting on July 13th.
Pepin County has received a $14,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to allow the county to set up two permanent electronic recycling sites in the county. The sites will be located at the Waubeek and Pepin Solid Waste Collection Sites. There will still be a charge to recycle electronics and the county hopes to have the sites up and running by the fall. Money for the grants comes from fees electronics manufacturers pay under E-Cycle Wisconsin to ensure the proper collection and recycling of used electronics. Devices covered include computers, monitors, TVs, printers, DVD players, VCRs, and computer accessories.
The Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office has identified last week’s homicide victim and the man suspected of shooting him to death. The body of 46-year-old Eddie L. Banks was found in a ditch near the St. Raymond Parish church in the town of Clear Creek Thursday. Investigators say they are looking for 36-year-old Philip R. Novak as the suspect. W-E-A-U/T-V reports they think Novak has left the area and may be headed for northern Wisconsin or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Local, state, and federal authorities are working together on the search.
Four men have been charged in Dunn County Court for the illegal killing of a black bear near a daycare center last year. WQOW-TV reports Brandon Guthrie and Cody Shafer are charged with illegal bear hunting and lying to wardens. Hunter Strenke is accused of shooting the bear without a license, and Adam Millermon is also charged with illegal bear hunting. According to DNR Wardens, the Daycare owner hear hounds in the woods and brought the children into the daycare when she heard a gunshot. Wardens say the four men did not have permission to hunt on the adjacent land and they killed a 325-pound bear.
Barron County authorities say the body of a missing 55-year-old boater has been found in Red Cedar Lake. The man’s name hasn’t been released. Investigators say he apparently drowned. W-A-O-W/T-V reports the boater was on the lake Sunday evening and his boat was found empty Monday morning. The search was conducted with help from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office, and the Shell Lake Fire Department. Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says at one point there were nine boats on the lake searching for the missing man.
The Trempealeau County Sheriffs Department is asking for the public's help in locating a missing person. According to the department's Facebook page, Derek Stawarz has been missing since June 14, when he was last seen in Lassek Court in Seymour Township in Eau Claire County. Stawarz was last seen wearing blue jeans, and a red/orange t-shirt, and is 5'11" 165lbs with brown hair and blue eyes. The vehicle he was driving was found abandoned in Eau Clarie County. If you have any information about where Stawarz may be, you are asked to contact the Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Office at 715-538-4351.
One of the two attackers in the Slender Man case says she would pose no risk if she was released from the mental institution where she’s been treated for the last four years. Morgan Geyser was committed in 2018 for joining her friend Anissa Weier in a stabbing attack on a classmate. She was supposed to be confined for 40 years. W-I-S-N/T-V reports Geyser and Weier were 12 years old at the time. They told police they stabbed sixth-grader Payton Leutner 19 times to please the horror character, Slender Man. They said they were convinced he was real. Weier was granted conditional release last September to live with her father while wearing a G-P-S monitor. Geyser has a Waukesha County hearing this (Thursday) afternoon.
A lawsuit filed against the Wausau Police Department alleges it hasn’t released relevant information sought through an open records request. The Wisconsin Transparency Project says much of the information released about the internal investigation into Lieutenant Adam Hartwig three years ago was redacted. Hartwig was investigated over allegations of sexual misconduct and he later resigned. W-A-O-W/T-V reports the group wants to know what Hartwig did. Its founder, Tom Kamenick, says it is important to see if investigations like that one are thorough and fair to both the accuser and the accused.
The U-S Senate is advancing a gun safety bill aimed at preventing mass shootings. Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith both voted for the final debate on the bipartisan legislation. It would enhance background checks for gun buyers under age 21, provide state funding for “red flag” laws, and billions of dollars for mental health programs and school security. The N-R-A opposes the measure.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is doubling down on his proposal to issue rebate checks to Minnesotans. Walz says he agrees with the message from legislative Republicans from last November – that the state’s budget surplus should be returned to the people. The Democrat wants lawmakers to return to the Capitol for a special session to authorize rebate checks of two-thousand dollars for every couple. Senate Republicans are questioning his plan. They passed an eight-billion-dollar tax cut during this year’s legislative session but Democrats in the House never brought it up for a vote.
A judge has dismissed the six felony false imprisonment charges that had been filed against Suring Superintendent Kelly Casper. Brown County Circuit Judge Marc Hammer was presiding over the Oconto County trial. Hammer ruled the state had failed to meet a probability standard for sustaining the charges. W-B-A-Y/T-V reports Casper was accused of strip-searching students earlier this year after they were suspected of vaping in a school restroom. Casper has submitted her resignation which is effective June 30th. The district attorney could still file other charges for the incident.
The Madison Forward Fund will provide 500 dollars a month to local families in need. Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway launched the pilot program Tuesday. W-M-T-V reports the application process will be open until July 3rd or until 155 households are signed up. Backers say the program is meant to be a supplement, not a replacement for the money needed to buy essentials like food, transportation, utilities, and rent. The mayor says many pandemic programs have ended but the families are still being hurt by high inflation and a shortage of childcare.
Planned Parenthood North Central States C-E-O Sarah Stoesz predicts an influx of women to Minnesota from surrounding states, which will have abortion bans or tougher restrictions if the U-S Supreme Court overturns Roe-V-Wade. She says if “federal protection falls, it is on us to make sure that we are good neighbors and that we are able to welcome women into our state so that they can be cared for.” Scott Fischbach with Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life disagrees. He says Minnesota also has “a very strong network of care centers that are willing to help women with alternatives so that they don’t have to go ahead with that abortion.” Fischbach also notes that Minnesota has an abortion waiting period, and informed consent. and parental involvement laws.
The U-S Department of Agriculture is sending 20-million dollars to the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research at UW-Madison. The Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives is being awarded a total of 80 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. A news release says D-B-I initiatives provide technical assistance and sub-grants to dairy farmers and businesses. The money is aimed at helping the businesses with plan development, marketing, and branding, as well as providing increased access to innovative techniques in dairy production of processing. U-S Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin made the announcement Monday.
The recent spike in interest rates doesn't seem to be influencing homebuyers. Chris Galler president of Minnesota Realtors says they’re being told that “buyers are still in the market. While interest rates have gone up, he says “they're still historically at a good rate, but over the last few years they've been very very low. Galler points out another bright spot -- home inventory is improving. He says there are more houses on the market this year compared to last.
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