UW-Stout is reporting a record-setting gift that will allow the school to renovate its rec complex. The university announced the gift from Dallas and Edye Pankowski yesterday. The five-million dollars will go a long way toward the rec center's 30-million dollar price tag. The gift also means the new rec center will have Pankowski's name on it. Stout says the state is going to have to come up with the rest of the money. School officials hope to get that in the next state budget, in 2025.
Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip is voluntarily recalling some fruit products due to salmonella contamination. The company and the Food and Drug Administration say the recall is for three pre-cut fruit cup and tray products. The products use TruFresh cantaloupe, which have the potential for salmonella contamination. The fruit cups and trays were also sent to Kwik Star, Stop-N-Go, and Tobacco Outlet Plus Stores in Wisconsin.
A River Falls man is facing a minimum of 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges Tuesday. Austin Koeckeritz pleaded guilty to sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, as well as one count of sex trafficking of a minor. According to authorities in Pierce County, Koeckeritz forced his victim to make sexually explicit videos. She told investigators she "lost her freedom" and was imprisoned in a room and forced to work daily, and he would take nearly all the money she earned. A sentencing date for Koeckeritz has not yet been set.
No one was home, and no one was hurt in a house fire in Chippewa Falls yesterday. Firefighters got a call about a fire on Wheaton Street just before 12:45 p.m. The woman who lives there says no one was home, though she says her cat died in the fire. Investigators are not yet saying just what caused that fire.
Pink slips are coming for about 90 people in Tomah. Managers at the Transcontinental plant in Tomah notified the state that it is planning to close its facility just after the new year. In all, 90 people will lose their jobs. The closing will affect both union and non-union employees. Transcontinental is not offering a reason as to why it is closing the plant.
The Mayo Clinic is planning a five-Billion dollar expansion in Rochester. The plan includes five new buildings, with space that can be converted as needed for use as patient rooms, to examination rooms, or operating rooms. The new buildings will be designed so additional floors can be added in the future as needed. Skyways and tunnels will connect all of the buildings. Construction is expected to start in 2024.
Some scams never seem to grow old. The Dane County Sheriff's Office is the latest law enforcement agency warning the public of a phone scam, and it’s a familiar one. A scammer will call the victim, claiming to be a relative in need of help. They'll say they are handing a phone over to a lawyer, who then tells the victim to get $14,000. The scammer then asks the victim to call them back to arrange a meeting at a bail bonds office. The sheriff's office said two people reported the scam Tuesday morning. Scams can be reported to your local law enforcement, the Better Business Bureau or the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is still looking for a woman who went missing last week. 53-year-old Stacy Shramek was last seen at around 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. Police said she left her sister's home in Black River Falls and traveled north on the Black River in a kayak that was later found on a riverbank. Jackson County Sheriff Duane Waldera said they are looking for any information that could help. Shramek is 5'5, 200 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, and a purple top. If you have information on this case you're encouraged to call 715-284-5357.
Wisconsin's proposal to allow out-of-state therapists to take on mental health patients in the state is gaining steam. A Senate panel yesterday seemed to support the plan that would open up more mental health services, particularly in rural parts of the state. Senator Rachel Cabral-Guevara said the idea is to expand the COVID-era emergency rules that allowed therapists and doctors in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan to treat people in Wisconsin. Reform groups like the Institute for Reforming Government say breaking down unnecessary regulations will simply help more people throughout the state.
Wisconsin will be giving almost two-million dollars toward financial and legal advice for small businesses. Governor Tony Evers and US Senator Tammy Baldwin, both Democrats, say the one-point-nine-million is coming from the US Department of the Treasury. The money will go toward two UW entrepreneurship programs, which the state says will help more than eleven-thousand small businesses apply for financial support over five years.
OSHA is fining two northeast Wisconsin construction companies after the death of a worker at Lambeau Field in June. The government this week announced the fines against Miron Construction and Mavid Construction. Both companies will pay a combined 34-thousand dollars in fines. The worker died after being trapped while working on repairs at Lambeau. OSHA says the fines are 'associated with pinch-point and electric dumbwaiter hazards.'
The federal government is warning a Wauwatosa company not to make hand sanitizer with the same equipment it uses to make brake cleaner. The FDA last month sent a letter to Brenntag Great Lakes, informing the company that inspectors found 'significant violations' during a tour of the company's plant in Menomonee Falls. The letter said the company cannot make hand sanitizer and industrial solvents using the same production line. Brenntag told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it never used the same equipment for the two different products, and blamed the whole thing on 'documentation error.'
Rochester's Heritage Preservation Commission is recommending landmark recognition for a historic city water tower. The commission voted unanimously yesterday to recommend the designation for the "ear of corn" water tower built in 1931. The tower currently sits on land owned by Olmsted County and was recently restored as part of a 400-thousand-dollar rehabilitation project funded by the county. The recommendation now goes to the Rochester City Council for final approval.
An elk was wandering the streets of the south-central Wisconsin village of McFarland late Friday night. A Facebook video showed the elk near the Maple Tree restaurant just before 11 p.m. Friday. The state Department of Natural Resources says the elk bull from a herd in the Black River Falls area has been heading south in the state looking for females during the elk breeding season. The DNR tracked the bull heading toward Waupaca, then up around Wausau and Taylor County, and then back toward Wausau, Shawano, Waupaca, and Wisconsin Rapids. They say his journey began back in September
No comments:
Post a Comment