Monday, June 12, 2023

Local-Regional News June 12

 One person is dead and three others are fighting for their lives after a crash in Dunn County. It happened just after midnight yesterday on I-94 near Menomonie. The State Patrol says a 33-year-old Eau Claire man was driving the wrong way on 94, when another car hit him head-on. The 33-year-old man was killed, a 27-year old woman and two boys, ages six and eight were also seriously injured. The driver of the other car was taken to the local hospital for minor injuries. The Dunn County Sheriff's Office and the State Patrol are both investigating the wreck.


One person was injured in a two vehicle accident in the Town of Gale onLast Tuesday.  According to the Trempleau County Sheriffs Department, Kimberly Lorenz of Galesville was traveling eastbound on Hwy 53 when she crossed the centerline and struck a westbound vehicle driven by Brice Hansen of La Crosse.  Lorenz was taken to the hospital and was cited for inattentive driving.


No one is saying just what caused an apartment fire in Chippewa Falls on Saturday. Firefighters rushed the building on West Elm Street about 6 a.m. Saturday. Crews saw both flames and smoke coming out of the building. The people who live inside were all able to make it out, no one was hurt. Investigators are looking for what started that fire.


The ex-boyfriend of a woman who was found dead in rural Minnesota this week has been charged with her murder.  Adam Fravel appeared in Winona County Court Friday morning, where his bail was set at one-million-dollars.  He's also been barred from contacting anyone in Madeline Kingsbury's family, including the two children they shared together.  Kingsbury was missing for around two months before police found in remains in a wooded area near Mabel earlier this week.  Court documents reveal that several witnesses said Fravel had been physically abusive toward Kingsbury in front of the kids.  His next court appearance is set for July 20th. 


The Wabasha County Board is meeting Tuesday morning.  Items on the agenda include approval of sponsorship of the snowmobile trails and club contracts,  approval of the classification, appraisal, and repurchase of tax-forfeited land in the county, and consideration of the preliminary plat request for Troy Baker.  Tomorrow's meeting begins at 9am at the Wabasha County Government Center.


Dairy farmers across Wisconsin are being forced to dump huge volumes of milk due to ongoing issues at multiple processing plants. Hastings Creamery in  Minnesota has been closed for 30 days now due to ongoing wastewater issues,  larger supplies of milk have dairy plants in the region unable to take on the extra capacity due to labor, trucking, and other issues. One Fox Lake farmer says producers are being forced to watch the product of their labor literally go down the drain. Until the processing facilities are back on their feet, farmers will have to find other ways to process the milk or keep dumping it out.


The people who represent local governments at the Wisconsin Capitol are happy with the deal that will bring them a half-a-billion dollars. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities, the Wisconsin Counties Association, and the Wisconsin Towns Association on Friday all sang the praises of the shared revenue agreement at the statehouse. Local governments have been pushing for years to get more money from the state, and they will finally get it. The shared revenue plan will send hundreds of millions of dollars to local governments across the state for police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and for road projects. The groups say the money will pay for the 'essential services that citizens will demand.'


Residents of Rochester Towers Condominiums are still displaced as work on the high-rise complex continues. The building was evacuated after engineers deemed it unsafe, and repairs and testing are ongoing. The engineers are keeping residents updated on the situation, and are planning on releasing further details on progress by Monday. An in-person meeting to discuss the tower's future is planned for Thursday as well.


A group of advocates for a northern Wisconsin oil pipeline stopped in Central Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Jobs and Energy Coalition wants the relocation of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline to go forward. That project would reroute the pipe around the Bad River reservation in northern Wisconsin following a court ruling in 2019. The group says the project would keep oil and gas prices lower in Wisconsin, and provide construction jobs. But there's a push among environmental advocates to shut down the line completely. Protestors say the line is unsafe and that all of the benefits of the line go to Enbridge, a Canadian company.


There were a lot of 911 calls in Marathon County over the weekend, but many of them were mistakes. The sheriff in Wausau says 911 dispatchers got 113 accidental 911 calls on Saturday. The sheriff's office says many of those calls can be blamed on phones that automatically dial 911 if the power button is pushed too many times, or if some simply swipes their screen too many times. Sheriff's offices across the state say they are seeing similar accidental calls, but not 113 in one day. The sheriff says you can avoid making an accidental 911 call by changing your phone's emergency settings.  If you accidentally dial 911 dont hang up, just let the dispatcher know what happened.


A group of Madison U.S. Army Reserve soldiers are on their way to Europe.  A ceremony was held Saturday at the Army Reserve Center in Madison so the soldiers could bid farewell to their loved ones.  The soldiers will spend about a year in Europe helping to manage, store, and transport munition for the military in the region.  First Lieutenant Marshall Jepsen told NBC 15 the ceremony brought up mixed emotions but added "It's gonna be a great adventure pretty soon."


Congressman Mike Gallagher is taking a pass on a campaign for the U.S. Senate. The 8th District Republican says he wants to remain in the House and focus on the threat from China.  Gallagher predicted he could have beaten Tammy Baldwin in her bid for a third term, calling the Madison Democrat “outside the mainstream,” and “a far left progressive.”   Other Republicans mentioned as challengers to Baldwin include Congressman Tom Tiffany, former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, and former Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch.


A Wisconsin high school is pausing a proposed ban of things like Pride flags and political signs.  Hartland Arrowhead's policy committee decided on Thursday to review the draft “flags, signage and divisive propaganda" policy with an attorney – and hear from other districts with similar policies. If approved, it would prohibit Pride flags, stickers, signs, and other items with political affiliation, race or gender preference in school buildings. Waukesha and Kettle Moraine have similar policies in place. The committee will revisit the issue on June 20.


University of Wisconsin Board of Regents President Karen Walsh and Vice President Amy Blumenfeld Bogost are both reelected.  That announcement by the Board of Regents today.  Walsh has been on the Board of Regents since 2019 and was first elected president a year ago.  Bogost has been on the board since 2020.


Wisconsin is one of ten states suing crypto company Coinbase.  The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions says the states are accusing Coinbase of violating securities laws.  They say Coinbase set up a staking rewards program but didn't register to do so.


Minnesota is seeing the biggest increase in the number of unemployment claims being filed compared to any other state.  That's according to a new report out by financial website WalletHub.  It found that Minnesota had nearly 98-percent more unemployment claims filed in the last week of May compared to the previous week.  The state with the second-biggest spike in claims filed was Ohio, with a little over a 61-percent increase.  North Dakota wasn't far behind.


Minnesota Department of Education officials say one of its servers was impacted by a global cybersecurity attack last week.  They learned of the breach on May 31.  The department also said that 24 of its files were accessed which have the names of close to 95-thousand students placed in foster care around the state.  Hackers also accessed information of 124 Perham students who qualified for Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer.


The University of Wisconsin is looking for someone to taste cheese.  The school’s Center for Dairy Research seeks individuals passionate about all types of foods, especially cheese, pizza, and other dairy products, to serve as a descriptive sensory panelist. Those selected for the position will need to verbally describe their sensory experience of foods sampled based on appearance, texture, taste, and aroma for research and product development purposes.  You’d need to be available for three three-hour tasting sessions per week partaking in up to 24 varieties of cheese and 12 pizza samples, and the position pays $15 an hour.  You can apply at “Jobs, dot W-I-S-C, dot E-D-U.”

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