Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Local-Regional News July 27

 The Durand City Council is meeting tonight.  Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on the bids for the Tarrant Park Pool, reports from the Mayor and Department heads, and the council will go into closed session for the annual review of the city administrator.  Tonight's meeting begins at 6:30 at Durand City Hall and will be live streamed on our YouTube Channel at Durand Broadcasting WRDN.


The Dunn County Board is meeting tonight.  Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on a referendum to create a rehabilitation district for Tainter Lake, and a referendum on universal health care.  Tonight's meeting begins at 7pm at the board room at the Dunn County Government Center in Menomonie.


The Durand-Arkansaw School District has announced it will be showing the moving Sing 2 at the Bauer Built Sports Complex on August 2nd as part of the National Night Out with the Durand Police Department.  The movie will begin shortly after the events end at Tarrant Park and admission will be free.


Students of the Mondovi Elementary School will have school supplies provided for them.  In a social media post yesterday, the district told families of students at the elementary school that school supplies would be provided again this year.  Some classrooms may have additional requests for items such as kleenex, wipes, etc and teachers would be talking with families directly.    The first day of school is September 3.


Today is the first day of the Dunn County Fair.  Today most of the animal exhibits will be arriving.  The Carnival will open up at 5pm.  Once again WRDN will be live video streaming the Dairy, Beef, Swine shows, and the Livestock Auction on Saturday night through our YouTube Channel at Durand Broadcasting WRDN and on our website.  The fair runs through Sunday at the fairgrounds in Menomonie. 


A convicted sex offender is being released homeless in Menomonie.  According to Menomonie Police, 48yr old Michael Jaenke was released yesterday after completing his sentence for 1st-degree sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography.  Due to temporary housing being denied, Jaenke was listed as homeless.  Jaenke is now on 10yr extended supervision and will be monitored via GPS and will be required to register as a sex offender for life.  Menomonie police say they will update the public on Jaenke's housing status when it is identified.


The City of Eau Claire will be asking voters to increase the amount of taxes it takes in to $1,448,132. The money would be used to fund 15 positions in public safety: six firefighter paramedics, six police officers, two community service officers, and another job in the 911 dispatch center.  For someone who owns property valued at $100,000, that means a tax increase of $22.55 per year.   The question will be put to voters during the November election.


 For the seventh consecutive year, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester is the top hospital in the country. That's according to the latest rankings from U-S News & World Report. Mayo also ranked as the number one hospital in Minnesota and was ranked the best in the country for diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, pulmonology and lung surgery, and urology.


 After more than a century the Wisconsin Point burial grounds are being returned to the Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa.  In 1918, about 180 Ojibwe graves were removed from the burial grounds on the estuary to the nearby St. Francis cemetery.  Superior Council President Jenny Van Sickle calls the Wisconsin Point location “sacred ground.”  The graves were moved so a steel plant could be built there but the project never got off the ground.  A ceremony marking the official reclamation will be held at Black Bear Casino Resort on August 18th.


Public health officials in Wisconsin are busting some myths about a new lifeline for people with mental health challenges.   The Department of Health Services is pushing back on some misinformation about the new national mental health and suicide hotline making the rounds on social media. Online posts claim dialing 9-8-8 will lead to police calls and involuntary hospitalizations. D-H-S says 98 percent of 9-8-8 calls in Wisconsin don’t involve law enforcement, and the few that do are because someone is in immediate danger.


Tuesday marked an anniversary of sorts for Foxconn in Wisconsin. It was July 27, 2017 - the Taiwanese electronics firm announced plans to invest 10 billion dollars in a new plant to produce liquid crystal display panels. Then Governor Scott Walker’s nearly three billion dollar tax credit deal with Foxconn included promises of 3,000 initial jobs, with up to 13,000 employed eventually. In the five years since activity at Foxconn’s Mount Pleasant campus has fallen well short of those expectations. Foxconn has modified its business plan several times, and in 2021 the Evers administration renegotiated the state’s agreement.


Election officials are reminding voters that their absentee ballots can be turned in, starting today.  Completed absentee ballots can be dropped off at locations listed by local clerks.  W-M-T-V reports people planning to do in-person absentee voting will need to bring an acceptable photo I-D at Wisconsin locations.  Any unregistered voters – or voters who need to update their registration – will need to bring proof of residence documentation with their current names and addresses.  For planning ahead purposes – all voter registration locations will be closed the weekend of August 6th and 7th.


They’re not mandatory, but public health officials in the Madison area are recommending people wear masks again.  Public Health Madison and Dane County is making the recommendation at a time when levels of coronavirus activity are growing.  Nearly two-point-six-million people in Wisconsin live in counties where COVID-19 numbers and hospitalizations are high enough that federal guidelines call for everyone to wear masks when they are indoors away from their homes.


A professor of applied economics would like to see a more responsive safety net when catastrophic animal disease events occur, such as this year’s bird flu. Marin Bozic with the University of Minnesota says that could be accomplished through Title Eleven in the next farm bill. He says some legislative changes would be needed to “ensure appropriate distribution of risk” between the federal government and the private sector. The current farm bill expires next year and lawmakers are hosting listening sessions to gather feedback from farmers and ranchers.


The Madison Diocese is taking official action against a Cross Plains priest who continues to focus on right-wing political opinions.   On Friday, the diocese said that they were taking "disciplinary action" against Father Richard Heilman. No specific details of those actions have been made public. Heilman has continued to make right-wing political opinions part of his sermons and social media posts and has been downplaying the severity of the January 6th attacks on the US Capital. He also joined a podcast to talk about the attacks alongside two members of the Proud Boys, who have been linked to violence at the US Capitol. 


The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas are condemning antisemitic flyers distributed in St. Louis Park Sunday night. Executive director Steve Hunegs says since July First notes with white supremacist overtones have been found in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hopkins, Edina, North Oaks, New Brighton, Cottage Grove, and Arden Hills. He says, “compounding this ugly antisemitism is the invasion of tranquil neighborhoods during the night.” Hunegs says there is no evidence of these flyers being associated with imminent violence.


The longtime E-A-A AirVenture President Tom Poberenzy died on opening day for this year’s event.  Poberenzy was E-A-A president from 1989 to 2010 and served as chairman until his retirement in 2011.  He died early Monday morning at the age of 75.  He’s being memorialized for leading the huge aviation show into world prominence.  E-A-A C-E-O and Chairman of the Board Jack Pelton listed Proberenzy’s achievements including the growth of E-A-A, the development of the E-A-A Aviation Center, the Young Eagles program, and the creation of Sport Pilot.

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