Due to the flooding of the Mississippi River, Hwy 35 is closing in parts of Buffalo and Trempealeau Counties. Crews from the Buffalo and Trempealeau County Highway Departments are setting up a detour of WIS 35, closing the highway in Buffalo County from Hwy 37 in Alma to just south of Fountain City because of flooding. The detour will follow Hwy 37, US 10, and WIS 93. South of Fountain City, Hwy 54 from the Minnesota/Wisconsin border east to its intersection with WIS 35 will remain open as will WIS 35/54 from WIS 54 to the east.
One person was injured in a single-vehicle accident in Ellsworth Township on Saturday. According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, 77yr old Thomas Phernetton of Beldenville was traveling southbound on Hwy J when he suffered a medical emergency and became unconscious and the vehicle crashed. Phernetton was taken to Red Wing Hospital, while two passengers in the vehicle were not hurt.
The Durand Citywide spring clean-up is underway. Residents will be able to collect leaves and small branches and put them curbside for city crews to pick up and remove. Leaves and small branches should be put in separate piles. Durand Public Works Superintendent Matt Gills says crews will pick up those piles in two separate rounds. The clean-up continues until May 7th, and for a complete list of what is and is not eligible for the clean-up, contact Durand City Hall or visit the City's Facebook Page.
The high water on the Mississippi River has forced the Army Corps of Engineers to close the river to all commercial and recreational traffic. The Corps made the announcement over the weekend and the closures include lock and dam 4 in Alma and lock and dam 5 and 5a in Minnesota City and Fountain City and lock and dam 6 in Trempealeau. All of the locks are expected to be closed for around a week to 10 days depending on the location and river levels and when it is safe to resume navigation. Lock and Dam 2, Hastings, Minnesota; Lock and Dam 7, La Crescent, Minnesota; and Lock and Dam 9, Lynxville, Wisconsin, are not expected to close at this time.
A 47yr old River Falls woman was found dead on Monday. According to the River Falls Police Department, the woman's body was found on the 500 block of Bandle Street early Monday morning. Police say she died from an apparent gunshot wound. Police say there is no threat to the community and are investigating the death.
Larry Lokken isn't getting out of prison early, but he does have an outside job. A judge yesterday dismissed Lokken's request to end his nine-year prison sentence. Lokken is serving time for stealing a million dollars from taxpayers while he was Eau Claire County's treasurer. Lokken is working outside the prison, under close supervision, at a rehab program in Fort Atkinson. He's had that job for about a year and a half. But it's not earning him much money, he still owes over a half-million dollars in restitution to the county.
It was a sad anniversary in the Chippewa Valley yesterday; it's been one year since Lily Peters was murdered. Family and friends marked the anniversary yesterday. The teenager accused of raping and killing Peters awaits trial while in jail. The D.A. says the case is not going to trial anytime soon -- in fact, the next hearing in the case isn't scheduled until later this summer. That hearing will determine if the teenager is tried as a juvenile, or tried as an adult.
Western Wisconsin's congressman is blasting the Biden Administration for how it's handling the war in Sudan. Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden took to Twitter yesterday to say the president is abandoning 16 thousand of Americans in Sudan as that country falls into civil war. Van Order said President Biden evacuated government employees and 'left the everyday Americans to fend for themselves' in a war zone. The U.S. evacuated some of its embassy staff over the weekend. Van Orden called it 'repulsive' and 'Afghanistan 2-point-oh.'
A Wisconsin senator wants some answers about this month's wildfire at Fort McCoy. Senator Tammy Baldwin yesterday sent a letter to the Army asking about the controlled burn at the fort that may have sparked the wildfire. That fire burned over three thousand acres and forced some people to evacuate their homes. Commanders at the fort say they have not yet determined if their controlled burn started the fire, though Fort McCoy is currently accepting damage claims because of the fire. Baldwin wants to know what kind of risk assessment the Army does before starting its controlled fires.
The Biden Administration is siding with the Lac du Flambeau Tribe in the lawsuit over road closures on its reservation. The federal government this month filed a brief in the case, urging the court to dismiss it. Several non-tribal members are suing the tribe over its barricade of their neighborhood last winter. The tribe says it's owed millions of dollars for the roads that connect those people's homes with the community off the reservation. The case is pending. The roads remain open under a 90-day negotiation window, but the deadline to reach an agreement and keep the roads open is in June.
A Missouri man already in prison for the 2019 murders of two Wisconsin brothers has been sentenced to 32 years in federal prison for a cattle fraud scheme. The Western District U.S. Attorney’s Office reports Garland Joseph “Joey” Nelson of Braymer was sentenced by a federal judge, who also ordered Nelson to pay 261-Thousand dollars in restitution to his victims. Nelson admitted he defrauded Diemel’s Livestock of $215,000 in a cattle contract. Nelson is serving two life sentences for murdering the two principals of the company, brothers Nicholas and Justin Diemel to cover up the scheme.
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The former Minnesota police officer accused of killing Daunte Wright during a traffic stop is out of prison and living in Wisconsin. The Minnesota Department of Corrections says Kim Potter was released this morning out of an abundance of caution for her safety. Potter was sentenced to two years in prison for Wright's 2021 death and has served 16 months. She'll be on supervised release in Wisconsin until her sentence is up in December.
Commanders at Fort McCoy say they are accepting claims from anyone who saw damage from this month's wildfire. The fort posted online on Friday that anyone who saw property damage or an injury because of the fire can submit a claim to the base's claims office. No one was hurt in the fire which burned about three thousand acres near the fort and started back on April 12th. The fire did damage some buildings and prompted some evacuation orders. Fort McCoy was working on a controlled burn at the time, but no one is saying if that burn is responsible for the fire.
A bill giving parents the ability to monitor their kids’ social media usage will be presented in the Wisconsin Assembly this week. The measure from Howard Representative David Steffen proposes parental controls for social media accounts started by their children under the age of 18. Among those restraints would be an overnight “sleep mode” prohibiting online activity, an ability for parental monitoring of the account, and restricting non-friend users from messaging their kids. Steffen says he connects the decline of youth mental health and a rise in anxiety and depression to social media use. The bill is similar to a law put in effect in March in Utah.
Minnesota lawmakers are considering a measure that would reduce the length of juvenile prison sentences. The proposal is part of the Senate Omnibus Public Safety Bill and would give juveniles who were sentenced to life in prison as an adult a chance to petition the court for early release under certain conditions. Under the proposal, juveniles sentenced to the maximum sentence could ask a judge to consider early release after 15 years. Currently, in Minnesota, minors can be sentenced to life in prison and are eligible for parole after serving 30 years of that sentence.
An environmental group wants the Public Service Commission to reconsider approval for a gas power plant. Jadine Sonada with the Sierra Club says the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, which has yet to start construction, isn't what Wisconsin needs. The PSC approved construction in 2010, and it's unclear if they will take up the request from the Sierra Club before construction is scheduled to start this year.
The urge to get up and clean your home as spring arrives is an ancient tradition. Christine Whelan from the UW Madison School of Human Ecology says the practice dates back thousands of years when people opened up their homes after a long winter. If you're looking at your home and can't figure out where to start cleaning, Whelan says start small. Pick a corner and work from there, and maybe ask for help if you need to.
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