Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Local-Regional News July 25

One person was injured ina motorcycle vs deer accident in Union Township on Sunday.  According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, 34yr old Brady Hughes of Arkansaw was traveling northbound on Hwy ZZ when he struck a deer and overturned the motorcycle.  Hughes was med flighted to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester.


The Mondovi City Council is meeting tonight.  Items on the agenda include the awarding of the contract to build the new library, agreement between the City and area townships for fire protection calls, and an update on the new waste water treatment plant.  Tonights meeting begins at 5:30 at the Marten Center in Mondovi.


The Pierce County Board is meeting tonight.  Items on the agenda include the first reading of a change in the animal waste storage ordinance, the second reading of a zoning change in Oak Grove Township and a resolution on reimbursement for protective footwear for employees.  Tonight's meeting begins at 7kpm at the Courthouse board room in Ellsworth.


A man in Dunn County woke up to find a Wisconsin State Trooper arresting him for his 7th OWI offense.  The State Patrol said in a Facebook post that, over the weekend, the man was found in the early morning hours sleeping behind the wheel along I-94 in Dunn County with a beer in hand.  The trooper woke the driver up. ‘Upon further investigation,’ the man was charged with operating while intoxicated.


 Folks in Eau Claire are not sold on the latest wheel tax proposal from the city. Nearly every person who spoke at last night's city council meeting came-out against the nex tax. City leaders want to add 24 dollars to the cost of registering a car in Eau Claire as a way to raise millions for road repairs. Many people said they simply cannot afford to give the city more money. The full city council will vote on the tax tonight.


A North Dakota man was arrested this weekend for allegedly driving 140+ mph on I-94.   According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, troopers were attempting to pull over Ira Hankinson but he refused to pull over.  When a Dunn County Sheriff's Deputy approached Hankinson's vehicle he increased his speed in excess of 140mph.  THe pursuit ended when the vehicle's tires blew out.  Hankinson has been charged with attempting to flee or elude an officer, and first degree reckless endangering of safety.   


A former northwestern Wisconsin prosecutor is going to jail for making secret sex tapes. A St. Croix County judge yesterday sentenced former Burnett County Assistant District Attorney Daniel Steffen to one-and-a-half years behind bars for filming himself having sex with women, without their knowledge. Steffen was convicted of making two secret sex tapes at his house in Polk County back in 2018. After his time in prison, Steffen will be on parole for two years, and under a probation agreement for another four. 


Minnesota officers will be on the lookout for drivers who are high on marijuana. Officers say they're bracing for the legalization of marijuana on August 1st by having an awareness campaign. The campaign reminds drivers that ingesting cannabis products while driving is illegal and law enforcement will be on alert for drug impaired drivers. Officials say the state plans to certify up to 100 officers as drug recognition evaluators in the next year. Officials say Drug recognition evaluators have the ability to recognize the signs, symptoms, and physiology of somebody who is under the influence of something other than alcohol. 


Wisconsin's attorney general is looking to get out of the lawsuit over former President Trump's border wall. A-G Josh Kaul has to first ask permission from lawmakers. Wisconsin is one of several states that sued the Trump Administration in 2019 over the then-president's plan to shift money from the National Guard to the wall along the southern border. The lawsuit isn't going anywhere because President Biden issued an executive order canceling the shift. Lawmakers will hold a hearing on the lawsuit this morning. Wisconsin lawmakers must approve any move by the A-G to get into, or get out of lawsuits involving the state. 


Republicans reverse course on early voting.   RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel announced Monday that the party has chosen Wisconsin to be the first state to implement its new "Bank Your Vote" early voting initiative. The campaign will encourage voters to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day. Voting by mail has generally been more popular among Democrats here and elsewhere around the country. Former President Donald Trump - who continues to deny his 2020 loss - has cast doubt on the practice but McDaniel said she has spoken to Trump, and he’s indicated his support for the campaign and understands it will help Republicans compete. 


Factors in the disposing of fresh milk include lowered milk demand, global milk competition, naturally higher milk production in the spring months, and staffing challenges at milk processing facilities.  The president of agricultural logistics company Ever Ag Insights, Phil Plourd, believes that prices will rebound soon, since the hotter weather later in summer reduces milk production in cows.


A woman working for a Twin Cities property manager is going to prison after stealing from her employer.  Mix Xiong was sentenced to five-and-a-half years behind bars after pleading guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and making a false tax return.  The defendant, who worked as a financial manager, admitted to stealing more than one-million dollars while working at Minneapolis-based Common Properties Management Cooperative.  Prosecutors say she stole the money to help feed a gambling habit.


 Wisconsin lawmakers want to expand the definition of a strip search. Lawmakers last week held a hearing on a plan that would clarify stripping someone down to their underwear counts as a strip search. The clarification comes after the superintendent in Suring Schools stripped a handful of teenage girls down to their underwear to search for a vape cartridge. State Rep. David Steffen says prosecutors couldn't punish the superintendent because she let them keep on their undergarments. Lawmakers say the change needs to be made to make the law, and the intent of the law, perfectly clear.


A man’s body is recovered from a Wisconsin lake. The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office says they received a 911 call late Thursday afternoon saying a 36-year-old man was with a group of people on a pontoon boat on Big Green Lake when he went into the water.  The man’s body was found and recovered late Friday afternoon from the lake.  The Sheriff's Office has been joined by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in their investigation of the death.  Currently, foul play is not suspected as a cause of the death.


Wisconsin has some of the best school systems in America.  That's according to WalletHub, which ranks Wisconsin fourth overall and as having the fourth-highest average SAT scores.  The only states ahead of Wisconsin are Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey.  WalletHub says the state with the worst schools is New Mexico.


A study determines that Wisconsin buys more alcohol at lunchtime than any other state. After reviewing transactions nationwide, the restaurant management software company Toast revealed that 30% of the items on an average lunch check in Wisconsin were alcohol.  That’s almost twice as much as the national average.  Four other states—Hawaii, Wyoming, Colorado, and Vermont—spent 25-percent or more of their lunch bill on alcoholic drinks.  When it comes to metro areas, Milwaukee and Denver led in lunchtime libations at 26% of the bill. 

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