The Shell Travel Mart in Durand is closing. Mega Co-Op announced on September first it would be closing a number of stores as part of its bankruptcy filing. WQOW is reporting that the Co-Op removed 13 stores, including Durand and Elk Mound, from the location page of its website earlier this week and that the Durand Store is expected to close on Friday. According to the company, all of the employees at the affected stores will be offered jobs at the remaining locations.
Members of the Lake Eau Galle Association listened to a presentation on an aquatic management plan for the lake last night. According to Dave Blummer of LEAPS, the lake has 9 different plants in the lake, two of which are invasive. The majority of the plants are in the northern part of the lake and it has led to 29 percent of the lake becoming inaccessible. Blummer says the root cause is sedimentation. For some of the landowners on the northern part of the lake, Blummer says some harvesting of the plants would be a way to give them access to the rest of the lake.
There continue to be issues at HSHS and Prevea hospitals across Wisconsin. The hospitals yesterday said more phone lines are back online, but said they are still dealing with the effects of what they call a 'temporary system outage.' Earlier in the week, HSHS and Prevea said patient billing services were not working. No one is saying just what caused the system outage, and there's no estimate as to when everything will be back online.
There is another Democratic candidate for Congress in western Wisconsin. Former La Crosse County Board Chair Tara Johnson yesterday announced a grassroots campaign to take on Republican Derrick Van Orden. There are already two other Democrats in the race. Van Orden is in his first term in Congress, and western Wisconsin is considered a possible swing district in the state.
A Black River Falls man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. 37yr old Jonathan Julian was sentenced in federal court yesterday after he had stopped registering as a sex offender in 2016. US Marshals determined Julian had moved from New York State to Black River Falls in October of 2018 and was living there until his arrest in March of this year. Along with the prison sentence, he will be under 10yrs of supervised release. Julian was originally convicted in 2008 in the Western District of New York for possession of child pornography.
A pair of Democratic lawmakers want to end Wisconsin's tipped minimum wage. Senator Chris Larson from Milwaukee and state rep. Francesca Hong from Madison yesterday reintroduced a plan to pay bartenders, waiters, and other tipped employees the same wage as everyone else. The two say tipped workers deserve a living wage. Wisconsin's minimum wage is seven-dollars and 25-cents an hour, while the tipped minimum wage is just two-33 an hour. Larson and Hong tried with a similar plan two years ago, but failed to gain any traction at the Capitol.
Wisconsin's governor is promising to veto the next tax cut package from Republican lawmakers. Governor Tony Evers took to Twitter yesterday to say he won't sign the three-billion-dollar tax cut package that lawmakers are working on. The governor says Wisconsin can't afford it, and says he already signed a tax cut for people making less than 19-thousand dollars a year. Republicans say their tax cut package would help most taxpayers in the state and would make retirement essentially tax-free in Wisconsin.
Rochester police are warning residents about the rise in smash-and-grab car burglaries. Police say the usual break-ins were from people leaving their unlocked but thieves are now breaking windows if they see valuable items inside. Officials say they believe people are patrolling parking lots and looking for items inside cars. This comes after a 24-year-old woman told police her purse and car keys were stolen after she left her doors unlocked Tuesday afternoon. Residents are being told to lock their car-doors and to not leave valuable items inside.
The governor of Minnesota is ordering all state buildings to fly their flags at half-staff to honor former Governor Al Quie [[ kwee ]]. U.S. and state flags will be lowered at sunrise tomorrow and will remain at half-staff through sunset on Saturday. The former governor's casket will also be placed at the State Capitol from noon to 3 o'clock tomorrow to honor his service to Minnesota. Quie served as Minnesota's 35th governor from 1979 to 1983. Before that, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 20 years. Quie passed away on August 18th, one month before his 100th birthday.
The Department of Natural Resources is reminding you to keep your distance from elk. Elk are entering their rut in northern Wisconsin and have begun "bugling" which refers to the loud calls they make when finding a mate. Wardens say you should refrain from trying to call the elk yourselves and let nature take its course. Simply film or take pictures of the elk when you can see them and don't hassle the elk or other people spotting.
Harley-Davidson is recalling tens of thousands of motorcycles over a defect in their shock absorbers. That recall is for all Softail motorcycles sold between 2018 and now. The company says a broken part could puncture the tire if the shocks fail. All owners of those cycles should be getting recall letters soon, and you can bring your bike to your local dealership to get it fixed for free.
The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says questions about the state's newest supreme court justice, and whether she can hear the state's redistricting case, remain unanswered. The state's Judicial Commission yesterday dismissed the complaint that accused Justice Janet Protasiewicz of violating court rules when she called Wisconsin's political maps 'rigged' during her campaign for the Supreme Court last spring. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, however, says that doesn't answer the question of whether she can fairly hear challenges to those maps. Vos yesterday said the Court Commission said Protasiewicz can't be sanctioned. He says the commission didn't say anything about whether she should recuse herself from any redistricting cases. Vos and other Republicans say Protasiewicz must step aside in the case and have talked about impeaching her if she doesn't.
Folks in Waukesha may notice a new smell or a new color with their water next week. Waukesha is switching to Lake Michigan water, and the city's mayor says that will mean some temporary problems. Mayor Shawn Reilly said folks may notice a smell and a red-color to their water. He said that would be from the change in water pressure that could stir-up sediment in your pipes. The mayor says the color and smell should work its way through the system quickly.
Small towns across a 20-county region will be benefiting from a series of small grants given out by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. The Owatonna-based foundation recently announced the award of nearly two-dozen grants totaling more than 200-thousand dollars. Several towns received ten-thousand dollar awards for projects, including the creation of a national service park in Plainview that honors groups like the Peace Corps. Awards were also given to small towns like Caledonia, Elkton, Lewiston and Rushford.
The Wisconsin State Patrol is sharing photos of drivers going 100 to 118 miles per hour. Even on the interstates and freeways, that's at least 30 miles per hour over the limit. Speeding tickets can cost up to 800 dollars depending on the violation. In 2022, the State Patrol handed out nearly double the number of 100 plus mile-per-hour citations than in 2019.
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