About 50 workers at the 3M plant in Menomonie got a pink slip this week. The company announced a wave of layoffs tied to a planned 'workforce reduction.' There are about 700 people who work at the plant in Menomonie. The city's mayor says 3M notified his office about the pending layoffs. It's not just workers in Menomonie who are losing their jobs, 3M is planning to lay off 25 hundred people company-wide.
Western Wisconsin's congressman is at the southern border today. 3rd District Congressman Derrick Van Orden is touring the border in Texas. He said he's there to see for himself how millions of illegal immigrants and thousands of pounds of fentanyl are making their way into this country. Van Orden says there is a direct link between the drugs that are crossing the southern border and the people who are dying in Wisconsin from fentanyl overdoses.
Five puppies that were brought to the Dunn County Humane Society are looking for homes after being found in a box near Elk Mound. The Dunn County Humane Society told WQOW-TV that the puppies arrived at the shelter after being found near the Muddy Creek Wildlife Area. The humane society is taking applications for the puppies now and it's expected they could go to their forever homes sometime after February 22nd.
UW-Eau Claire is moving to wipe TikTok off of university-owned phones and tablets this week. Campuses across the system are wrapping up their efforts to block TikTok from all university-owned devices. The university says the deadline for that is tomorrow. The UW System is banning TikTok because of worries that TikTok's Chinese owners can spy on and track American users. Students and faculty members can continue to use TikTok on their own phones and tablets.
The trial is set for the two people accused of killing and beheading an Altoona man last spring. A judge yesterday said Tracey Clark and Brandon Gaston will go on trial in March of next year. They are accused of killing, then chopping 79-year-old Dennis Schattie's head off. His body was found in Illinois last April. Both are facing life sentences if convicted. The judge said he expects the trial to take a month.
Hudson schools were locked down yesterday after a report of a threat to attack a local McDonald's and local school. Police did not know which school was the target so all schools in the district were locked down. Police went to the McDonald's and the address of the person who tipped off Homeland Security as well as the suspect who allegedly made the threat. After an investigation of the suspect, no weapons or ammunition were found and it was believed the tip was an attempt at swatting the suspect. The suspect was released and police do not believe there was ever any threat to the community. Swatting is the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address.
The state ag department says a meat recall this week in Rice Lake demonstrated the need to keep tabs on where our food is coming from. DATCP Section Chief James Kaplanek says Prime Cuts Meat Market sold pork from a private client to the public without making sure it was inspected, prompting a recall alert. Prime Cuts was only licensed to do on-order butchering for individual clients. Kaplanek says the meat never made it out of the Rice Lake area.
As expected, Governor Tony Evers wants to spend a lot more money in Wisconsin's new state budget. The governor delivered his budget address to lawmakers last night and proposed a nearly 104 billion-dollar spending plan. That's more than 20 billion larger than the current state budget. The governor wants to spend more on everything from public schools to a new paid-family-leave plan for Wisconsin, and he wants to expand Medicaid in the state. Governor Evers says his new budget will 'invest' in Wisconsin. The governor did not, however, mention his plan to spend 300 million dollars on maintenance at American Family Field.
The Republicans who control the state legislature, and who will actually write the new state budget, say just about everything in Governor Evers' proposed budget is not going to happen. Republicans last night criticized the governor for wanting to spend so much, and expand or create a wave of new programs. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says the governor is proposing a 24 percent increase in spending. He called that 'unrealistic,' and says the Republican budget will be 'dramatically different.'
It's time to start getting ice fishing shacks off the lake. DNR warden Ben Mott says that shifting weather conditions and the return of spring means some lakes are already seeing uneven and thin ice. Failure to get your shack off the ice before the March 15th deadline could cost you over 250 dollars, and whatever fees it takes to pull a shack out of the water if it falls in.
The Minnesota Supreme Court will not overturn a law barring felons from voting. In the ruling yesterday, the court essentially punted the issue back to the Minnesota Legislature. Under the current law, those released from jail or prison are required to wait until they're off probation and have their fines paid before getting their voting rights back. Justice Natalie Hudson dissented from the decision made by Justice Paul Thissen. She says the law was unconstitutional because it disenfranchises Black and Native American voters at much higher rates.
Wisconsin's race for Supreme Court now has a six million-dollar price tag. The ad tracker, Medium Buying, yesterday said there has now been six million dollars worth of ads purchased in the race. Most of the ads are coming from outside groups, as opposed to the candidates themselves. Voters will narrow the field down next week. There are four candidates, two liberals, and two conservatives. The top two vote-getters will then move on to the election in April. The record for spending in a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin is 10 million dollars.
Wisconsin will receive just over $25 million to address contaminants in drinking water. The funding announced Tuesday by Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin is made possible by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed last fall. The funds will promote access to safe and clean water in small, rural, and disadvantaged communities in the state while supporting local economies. In 2023, Baldwin helped bring in over $8 million for several communities in the Northern part of Wisconsin for remediation of contaminants, including the forever chemicals PFAS, in their drinking water.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice gets just over $4 million to address gun violence prevention. The grant from the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday aids in administering “red-flag laws” and crisis-intervention programs connected to gun legislation passed by Congress last summer. The intent of the laws is to temporarily remove guns from people with potentially violent behavior and keep them from harming themselves or others. Though Wisconsin does not have red-flag laws, the money the state’s Justice Department will get will fund research around gun violence in Wisconsin, behavioral health measures, court-based programs, and training or outreach programs.
The state Department of Health Services is promoting peer support as a way to address youth mental health needs. Peer support is a form of community care where those with lived experience help others navigate an issue through supportive relationships. Peer support helps fill gaps in the mental health workforce with roles such as recovery coaches, community health navigators, and certified peer specialists. DHS has a new fact sheet on supporting child well-being through peer support.
The University of Wisconsin Health is pushing cholesterol screenings after seeing an uptick in kids with high cholesterol. U-W Health Kids says preventative screenings can help prevent heart disease and death. Doctors say screenings are important because kids oftentimes don't show symptoms of high cholesterol. They say cholesterol screenings are especially important for families with a history of heart disease.
Earlier this month, a rescue dog named Koda woke up his owners in the middle of the night while their Brookfield home was going up in flames. The family got out of the home safely, while Koda suffered smoke inhalation. Brookfield firefighters used a pet oxygen mask to keep the dog alive. Koda’s owner, Steve Mehnert, tells Fox 6 Milwaukee the dog’s heroics happened on a special day as the fire was on the one-year anniversary of Mehnert's family rescuing Koda from a shelter. Investigators said the cause of the fire was hot ashes left in a grill outside the home.
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