The Dunn County Board of Supervisors have approved the 2024 budget, which will lower county property taxes on a typical home by 26%. According to a press release, county officials said for 2024, the owner of a house valued at $150,000 will pay $745.44 in property taxes for county purposes, down from the 2023 tax bill of $939.15. The mill rate was set at $4.97 per $1,000 of property value, down 26% from last year.
The Construction on Main Street in Wabasha is wrapping up for the season as the new sewer and water lines are all installed. However, the project isn’t completely over yet! The final layer of asphalt on Main Street will not go on until next spring when the weather warms up again. Due to supply chain delays, the lights will go in mid-December. In the meantime, the City encourages residents to use caution by the step up to the curb on Main Street, until spring when the final course is added.
Eau Claire County is discontinuing the system it uses to alert residents to emergencies. Known as RAVE, county officials say they're shutting down the system after the first of the year because of its cost, which totals almost 36-hundred dollars a year. Plus, they say fewer people have been signing up for RAVE They say they'll alert residents by working with state emergency management officials to alert residents of any emergencies in an area, such as a train derailment or hazardous materials incident.
Eau Claire residents can expect to see an increase in their monthly water bills, beginning next year. The city council this week approved an eight percent increase in water usage bills. City officials blamed the increase on rising costs for electricity, chemicals and transportation in providing water for residents. The city is also building a 20-million dollar treatment facility for PFAs -- the so-called forever chemicals that are hazardous to people's health. The city is looking for grants that can help offset the cost of the facility.
Wisconsin's governor took the spat over DEI money at the University of Wisconsin to the campus in Eau Claire yesterday. Governor Evers toured the medical lab at the university and once again pressed Republican lawmakers to release the 32 million that's being held at the Capitol until the university changes its policy on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The governor said the University of Wisconsin will not get better with less money. He says the school needs that money to continue to teach the next generation of people in Wisconsin.
There is a plan at the Wisconsin Capitol to give folks from Wisconsin first dibs on campground spots. Senator Howard Marklein introduced the idea this week. He wants to create a two-week window for Wisconsinites to book campgrounds, then open-up registration to everyone. Currently, the DNR opens campground reservations 11 months ahead of time, and it is a first-come first-served basis. Marklein says that leads to a mad scramble, and sometimes people or groups from Wisconsin miss out on the best spots.
Wisconsin's Right to Garden plan is a step closer to becoming law. An Assembly committee this week approved the plan which would stop local governments from banning vegetable or flower gardens. State Rep. Shae Sortwell is pushing the plan. He says leaders in his hometown of Two Rivers okayed a local ban on gardens. He says people have the right to grow their own food, and he says local governments should not be getting in the way. The Right to Garden legislation now heads for a vote in front of the full legislature.
The flu, COVID, and RSV virus are on the rise in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services most recent Respiratory Virus Surveillance Report says the state is seeing an increase in hospitalizations for children with RSV. The department says influenza and COVID vaccines are in good supply, but national RSV treatments for infants are still affecting Wisconsin.
The Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council is handing out grants to more than four-dozen applicants to help fund their operations and performances. The grants announced this week will go to organizations in 11 southeastern counties and average between five and ten-thousand dollars each. Grants were awarded for a variety of projects involving music, dance and painting. The total amount of the grants adds up to just under 335-thousand dollars.
A bill requiring the DNR to set a statewide population goal in its wolf management plan has passed a committee vote at the Capitol. The Assembly Sporting Heritage Committee voted 7-4 along party lines on Wednesday. The Natural Resources Board last month approved a plan that eliminated the decades old 350-wolf goal in favor of zone based management with no specific population goal. Hunting and agriculture groups were opposed. State law requires an annual wolf hunt, but for now wolves remain on the federal endangered species list. The Senate passed the bill 22-10 along party lines last month.
A report released this week shows that the state agency responsible for overseeing Minnesota's Senior Nutrition Program isn't doing much oversight. The Office of the Legislative Auditor says the Minnesota Board on Aging hasn't been doing many mandated compliance checks since 2017. While the audit doesn't claim there are outstanding problems, the legislative auditor says the lack of oversight leaves the program vulnerable to fraud and exploitation. The head of the Board on Aging told state lawmakers yesterday that his agency is working on improving its internal controls and coming into compliance with state and federal guidelines.
Target is reporting higher-than-expected revenue and earnings for the third quarter of this year. The Minneapolis-based company reported earnings-per-share of two-dollars and ten-cents yesterday, more than 60-cents higher than anticipated. The company's total revenue was 25-point-four billion, which was slightly higher than expected. The news wasn't all good, as total revenue and sales were both down from the same quarter last year. The company's chief financial officer says Target is "laser-focused" on improving sales and in-store traffic, though he says those goals are unlikely to be met this year.
The Department of Natural Resources says this year's bear harvest was down because of a quirk of nature. Large carnivore specialist Randy Johnson says hunters harvested about 25 percent fewer bears this year, likely because oak trees across many hunting regions put out a bumper crop of acorns. Johnson says that likely kept bears away from bait stations and out of the sight of hunters. Over 12 thousand licenses were issued to hunters, and about 23 percent of those tags were filled.
A Wisconsin man is recovering after a deer's smashed through his windshield. Robert Fleuchaus says he was driving on I-43 last week doing about 75 miles an hour when the deer ran right into traffic. The deer's body split in half after being hit by Fleuchaus and a box truck driving beside him. Fleuchaus says all the windows shattered and the deer's head just landed on the seat next to him. He says he's glad no one was in the passenger seat. Wisconsin State Patrol says there have been over 23-hundred deer-related crashes in southeastern Wisconsin this year.
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