The City of Durand's application to the Wisconsin State DOT for the reconstruction of Main Street was submitted. The grant would cover the removal and replacement of the pavement and sidewalk. While the grant would not include sewer and water replacement, according to the City engineer, the state will have nearly $700 million available for water system grants that could cover that cost. The engineer is suggesting that the city applies for those grants for the Main Street and Madison Street projects.
A record number of Americans will be traveling 50 miles or more for Independence Day, with AAA reporting that approximately 42 million people will hit the road. Here in Wisconsin AAA is expecting over 960,000 Wisconsinites to travel for the holiday. The heavy traffic will begin after noon today. If you're not planning on traveling, the city of Mondovi will be having a 4th of July Celebration all day on Monday with activities throughout the day and fireworks at Dusk at Mirror Lake Park.
Eau Claire City Council members are considering the idea of putting a referendum before the voters. The potential increase in local property taxes was a topic of discussion at a Tuesday work session. If the city moves forward it would go on the November ballot. Officials say the additional money is needed. Eau Claire is growing with miles of city streets, miles of recreational trails, parks, and other needs. Some city departments haven’t created any new positions in 25 years. Council President Terry Weld says the city has been getting by but being creative with the budget won’t cover things anymore. Weld says Eau Claire needs another one-point-three to one-point-seven-million dollars for its budget. A vote on a referendum is expected to be taken at the July 12th meeting.
The Chippewa Falls School Board has voted to remove a book from the district’s curriculum. The board voted 5-2 this week to require that the book, Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe, not be part of the curriculum in any classes as optional reading for students without parental consent. A parent appealed the decision after a panel had initially recommended keeping the book. Parents of kids younger than 18 would need to sign a consent form for their child to read the book. According to the Scholastic Book Clubs summary of the book, it contains mature language and references to sex, drugs, and alcohol and is only recommended for older readers.
Wausau city employees could become eligible for a two-thousand dollar incentive if they give six-month’s notice of their retirement plans. Finance Committee chairperson Lisa Rasmussen says the idea originated as a proposal from the Wausau Police Department as it tries to control overtime costs. A lengthy advanced notice gives the city time to train new people. The incentive will become available after the human resources office drafts a memo of understanding for the city’s three unions. The item is on hold for now and could become part of the next round of contract negotiations.
Hundreds of Minnesota National Guard members could be expelled from service for declining the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 95 percent of the Guard's 13-thousand members have been vaccinated. The Guard's State Public Affairs Officer says nearly two percent of the remaining soldiers have requested a religious or medical exemption and three percent have refused vaccination. The Department of Defense says today (Friday) is the deadline to get the shot.
Republican state lawmakers are telling the governor they want to use 10 million dollars in American Rescue Plan Act money on pregnancy resource centers. Thirty-eight party members in the Wisconsin Assembly wrote a letter to Democratic Governor Tony Evers urging the move. It says despite differences of opinion there is now an opportunity to come together to prevent unplanned pregnancies and support the ones that do occur. Wisconsin’s abortion ban passed in 1849 became enforceable again when the U-S Supreme Court overturned the Roe-V-Wade decision last week.
Parents say they are worried as they speak out about worsening behavior issues at Wisconsin Rapids Area Middle School. One mother tells W-A-O-W/T-V her son was bullied all three years he was at the school. She says he brought home notes from other students telling him to kill himself. Superintendent Craig Broeren says he knows the problem is getting worse. About 450 students at the school have received some sort of infraction related to their behavior in the last year. Parents say district officials aren’t doing enough.
A Sun Prairie manufacturing company says it has reached an agreement on a new contract with its 600 union workers. W-M-T-V reports Continental ContiTech and the United Steelworkers say the new deal will begin August 1st and it affects employees at facilities in Lincoln, Marysville, and Sun Prairie. Both sides say they are relieved the deliberation came to a quick and fair end. Common ground was found ahead of schedule, according to the company. The company has been located in Sun Prairie for 54 years and it makes hydraulic brake hoses.
Beware of scammers impersonating CenterPoint Energy employees demanding payment via phone or door-to-door. CenterPoint spokesman Ross Corson says there have been recent reports of con artists threatening customers that their power will be shut off if they don’t pay immediately. Corson says the company “would never demand immediate payment” and wouldn’t demand payments through “things like a prepaid debit card or a gift card or cryptocurrency or some kind of third-party digital payment mobile application.” He says if you get a call and are suspicious that it may be a scam, immediately hang up.
With Turkey dropping its objections, Sweden and Finland are on track to becoming NATO members, which Carleton College analyst Steven Schier says will bring significant resources into the alliance. Schier says Finland has an 830-mile border with Russia and has been in a state of preparedness for a long time. There are 380-thousand Finns “who are available immediately for military action, along with “an auxiliary force that could number up to 900-thousand.” Schier says while Finland brings to NATO a lot of land-based military power, Sweden has relatively sophisticated naval operations in the Baltic Sea, plus an island -- Gotland -- which is a major strategic asset. Schier contends Russia is not likely to try to do anything about it anytime soon, because all of their resources are on the line in Ukraine.
Minnesota state park campsites are a hot commodity this Fourth of July holiday weekend. The D-N-R’s Sara Berhow says while a majority of the campsites are already spoken for, keep checking back “because cancellations do happen” and their online reservation system has a “Notify Me” feature. Berhow says there are more than 45 hundred campsites across the state park system and currently around 400 open reservations. For more information head to the D-N-R’s website.
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