Due to a lack of volunteers and a coordinator, the Durand Royalty program will not return from hiatus. No one showed up to an organizational meeting for the program last night so the program will be ended. The royalty program had been on hiatus for the last few years due to the pandemic and lack of volunteers.
The Pepin County Sheriff's Department is joining other law enforcement agencies with extra patrols to watch for impaired drivers and those not wearing seat belts. Pepin County Sheriff Joel Wener says the department is part of a joint task force with Buffalo County. The goal of the program is to not write extra tickets but to get voluntary compliance with seat belt and impaired driving laws.
An Elk Mound woman has been arrested for OWI 2nd offense. According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, Dunn County Deputies and State Patrol Troopers responded to a two-vehicle accident on I-94 near milepost 41 on Monday evening. During the crash investigation, troopers noticed signs of impairment from 30yr old Brittany Hester. After a field sobriety test was conducted, Hester was arrested for OWI 2nd offense, transported to a local hospital for an evidentiary blood test, and then to the Dunn County Jail. The children, ages 8 and 6 were released to an adult family member. The accident remains under investigation by the Wisconsin State Patrol.
The search for a missing Eau Claire woman has come to a happy end. Eau Claire Police took to Facebook yesterday to ask for help in finding 28-year-old Jennifer Weidinger. Last night, police say they found her and said she is safe. She'd been missing since Sunday night. Other details about her disappearance haven't been released yet.
There will be a delay in the case against the Minnesota man accused of a stabbing spree on the Apple River in St, Croix County last July. Prosecutors yesterday said it will take up to 60 days to get test results back from the state crime lab in the case against Nicolae Miu. Police say he killed a teenager and hurt four others when he started stabbing them last summer. Miu says he feared for his life after getting into a fight with the teen. Miu is being held in the St. Croix County Jail on a million-dollar bond.
Wisconsin is part of a new national prosecution of two robocall companies. The state's Department of Justice yesterday announced the case against Avid Telecom and One Eye. The two companies are accused of helping to facilitate banned robocalls or ignoring the do-not-call list. The national Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force is handling the case.
Wisconsin's gun deer hunting season is less than three weeks away, and officials are hopeful that harvest totals in parts of the state will see a rebound this year. Jeff Pritzl, deer program specialist with the Department of Natural Resources, told WisconsinEye that preliminary figures from this year's bow and crossbow seasons suggest a return to normal in the state's southern region following a decline in the number of deer tagged in 2021. The annual gun deer hunt brings more than $1 billion to the state's economy each year, according to state estimates. This year's eight-day gun deer season begins November 19.
A consumer group is concerned that two Wisconsin utilities are seeking excessive rate hikes. Tom Content, executive director of the Wisconsin Citizens Utility Board, said the increases sought by Wisconsin Public Service and WE Energies will hit residential customers with rising energy costs. Gas rates would increase between 8.7% and 13.1% depending on the provider. The Public Service Commission is still accepting online comments on the PSC website.
Add Hy-Vee to the list of stores closing this Thanksgiving. The grocery store made the announcement yesterday. Many stores are opting to be closed on Thanksgiving this year. Hy-Vee said it is closing its stores to show some gratitude for its employees who work hard the rest of the year.
Minnesota-based Xcel Energy plans to stop using coal to generate electricity by the end of 2030 in its entire service area, which includes western Wisconsin. states. Regional Vice President John Marshall says the plan relies heavily on the continued use of two existing nuclear plants in Minnesota, and doubling-down on renewables. Xcel is setting a goal of shutting down coal plants in northwest Texas, Colorado and Minnesota by the end of 2030.
The Wisconsin DNR has requested additional information on plans from Green Light Metals to do exploratory mining in Marathon County. A representative from the Canadian Company says they are working to compile more information on the potential environmental impact of any exploratory mining, adding that they feel confident they will demonstrate that the work can be done in a safe and responsible manner. The request from the DNR is not uncommon, officials with Green Light add environmental agencies often ask for clarification when processing these permits. No work will be done in the area until all permits have been approved and signed, meaning at this time no drilling is imminent.
Sentencing for the convicted Waukesha Christmas Parade attacker will take place in two weeks. Judge Jennifer Dorow said Monday that Darrell Brooks, who was convicted last week on six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and 70 other charges related to the November 2021 SUV attack on the parade route, will be sentenced on November 15 and 16. Prosecutors said they expect more than 30 victims to speak at sentencing, which could take up to four and a-half hours. Brooks said "20 or more" people would speak on his behalf. Brooks, who has said he plans to appeal, faces mandatory life prison sentences for each of the six homicide counts.
There is an investigation after a state lawmaker says she received three military ballots in the mail. State Representative Janel Brandtjen yesterday said three ballots for someone named Molly showed-up in her mailbox. Brandtjen leads the Assembly's Committee on Elections and has been a vocal critic of the state's Elections Commission. Brandtjen said she thinks someone sent the ballots to her to show how easy it is to get a ballot for someone else. She turned the ballots over to the sheriff's office, and they are looking into the case.
A fungal infection is decimating the Northland bat population. University of Minnesota Duluth Associate Professor Ron Moen with the Natural Resources Research Institute says numbers are shrinking drastically because of White Nose Syndrome. Moen says the fungus affects the sleep cycles of the bats, interfering with their hibernation nutrition. He says the fungus came to the area in 2015 and has killed off close to 90-percent of the bats around the Twin Ports. Moen says bats play a key role in the ecosystem, eating mosquitoes, moths, and other insects that can impact farming and produce grown in the area.
A Minnesota man now officially owns the state record after catching a massive muskie this summer. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources certified Eric Bakke's 58-point-two-five inch muskie caught June 11th on Mille Lacs Lake. Officials say the previous record was a tie for two fish a full inch shorter than Bakke's. The fish was caught, measured, photographed, and released in a matter of minutes.
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