Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Local-Regional News Dec 7

 The Durand nurse accused of amputating a dying man's foot is being let out of custody on a 150-thousand-dollar signature bond.  Mary Brown appeared in court this morning where she was released on the condition she has no contact with the victim's family or Spring Valley Senior Living and doesn't work as a caregiver.  Brown is charged with physical abuse of an elder person, accused of cutting off a frostbitten man's foot in Pierce County back in March.  Investigators say she didn't have a doctor's order to amputate the man's foot.  She'll be back in court next week.


 Eau Claire Schools are not dropping Hmong and Japanese language classes. The city's school board made that decision last night. Originally, the superintendent proposed dropping the language classes to streamline the school's offerings. Some community members complained that dropping Hmong and Japanese sent the wrong message. The superintendent last night said nothing will change next year, but left the door open to possible changes starting the year after that.


The UW-Eau Claire community is mourning the loss of Larry Schnack. Schnack, who served as chancellor between 1984 and 1998 died Monday. Schnack is being remembered for helping modernize and enhance undergrad programs at UW-Eau Claire. His work led to several regional and national accolades for academic excellence. There will be a memorial service this Saturday.


A former teacher's aide in Bloomer will spend just three months in jail for having sex with a 16-year-old student. A judge in Chippewa Falls yesterday sentenced Noah Lane to three years in jail and two years probation. He was charged with having sex with a teenager who he met at school. In addition to his jail time, Lane will have to register as a sex offender and won't be allowed to work near young people again.


A new report says Wisconsin's 2022 election saw more outside money than ever before. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign released its report yesterday. The numbers show that outside groups spent just over 90 million dollars on the race for governor, U.S. Senate, Congress and Wisconsin's statewide races. That's 30 million dollars more than was spent four years ago. The report says outside groups spent a little more on Republicans, some 48 million dollars, compared to the 44 million spent on Democrats.


It looks like a major nurses' strike in Minnesota is over before it got started.  A tentative agreement has been reached with several hospitals in the Twin Cities and Duluth areas.  The deals come less than a week after the Minnesota Nurses Association notified 16 hospitals of walkouts by as many as 15 thousand nurses later this month.  A strike date was set for December 11th through the 31st.  Nurses now must vote on the tentative agreements reached by their union and hospital negotiators.


The state of Mississippi says Brett Favre repaid the million dollars he was wrongfully paid back in 2017, but now they want the other five million in welfare money that he should not have received. Mississippi's Department of Human Service yesterday asked Favre to repay the five million dollars that he helped guide to the University of Southern Mississippi. The state says Favre 'orchestrated' the five-million-dollar payment from TANF funds to the school to help build a volleyball court. Favre has not been charged with a crime in the case and has asked that he be dropped from the case going forward.


The Wisconsin Department of Health Services will launch a new Independent Living Support Pilot program in July. According to DHS, the program will assist aging and disabled Wisconsinites in an effort for them to keep their independence and ease the burden on long-term care systems. The program will grant eligible participants access to short-term, flexible, limited services and supports worth up to $7,200. Funding for the pilot program came from the American Rescue Plan Act. Assistance to enroll in the pilot program can be obtained from local aging and disability resource centers (ADRCs) and tribal aging and disability resource specialists (ADRS).

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Attorney General Josh Kaul and a coalition of law enforcement led by Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is warning of a recent flurry of scams targeting Wisconsin seniors.  Seniors receive a phone call from someone pretending to be law enforcement or an attorney. That caller falsely claims a family member has been involved in a car accident, was arrested, and requests thousands of dollars in cash for bond payment. A purported “bond agent” then picks up the cash payment. Over $100,000 has been lost by Wisconsin seniors in recent weeks. If contacted by someone claiming to be law enforcement or an attorney, do not provide payment without independently verifying their identity and the validity of the claims. Call law enforcement if you or someone you know has been targeted by a similar scam.


Wisconsin Republicans are asking Governor Tony Evers to ban the social media app TikTok from government devices.  Today U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher, Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman, Bryan Steil, and Tom Tiffany along with Senator Ron Johnson sent Evers a letter criticizing TikTok and asking him to delete the app.  A spokesperson from Evers says his office will defer to law enforcement and cybersecurity experts in regard to the issue.  The spokesperson also says Evers doesn't have TikTok on any of his devices.


Minnesota's history of sizable surpluses continues.  The state's projected surplus is 17-point-six-billion dollars.  Minnesota budget officials say that strong tax collections and a large leftover surplus from the spring have left a record-high level of resources available to lawmakers through June of 2025.  Governor Tim Walz has indicated that he wants to use the funds to provide more funding for classrooms and spending on new public safety initiatives.


A man convicted in random burglary/homicide in Columbia County 3 years ago has been sentenced to life in prison.   45 year old Jason Kijewski, formerly of West Allis, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Keith Wolf. The judge did set a parole eligibility date after 30 years for  Kijewski.  According to the criminal complaint, Kijewski shot Wolf in the head while burglarizing Wolf’s Town of Leeds home. Kijewski claimed that he had randomly chosen Wolf’s home to burglarize because he needed money, and that he’d never met Wolf or been to Columbia County prior to that night.  Kijewski was arrested after being connected to the crime through DNA taken from the mask he was wearing during a police interview.


Madison is one of the least sinful cities in America.  That's according to WalletHub, which ranks Madison the 12th-least sinful city compared to the 182 largest cities in the country.  Madison is dragged down by one category though.  WalletHub says Madison has the highest rate of excessive drinking U.S.  WalletHub says the least sinful city is Port St. Lucie, Florida while the most sinful city is Las Vegas.

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