The Durand City Council is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include the mayor's report and reports from the city administrator and department heads. Tonight's meeting begins at 6:30 at Durand City Hall and will be live-streamed on the video streaming page of our website.
The Durand-Arkansaw School Board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on the Space Availability Cap for 2024-25 as part of open enrollment, the 2024-25 High School Course Handbook, and reports from the district and building administrators. The board will also go into a closed session to discuss the sale of the Hanson Park Property. Tonight's meeting begins at 6pm in the board room at Durand -Arkansaw High School.
Police in Eau Claire say the man who crashed his pick-up truck into the Regency Inn won't face any charges for the crash. But that doesn't mean he's not in trouble. Investigators say there's no evidence that Sean Sambell was drunk when he drove his truck into a room at the Regency Monday night. But police say Sambell fought with officers and nurses when he was taken to the hospital. He was in court yesterday to answer charges of battery to a healthcare provider and battery or threats to police. Sambell is well known to Eau Claire County prosecutors, he has four open OWI cases from 2023 alone.
A Chippewa Falls man is sentenced to one year in jail and must pay up to ten-thousand dollars for two victims' mental health treatment. Nicholas Gonzalez pleaded guilty to sex crimes against two fifteen-year-old girls. One victim says Gonzalez assaulted her while they were on a walk, and the other says he attempted to. During six years of probation following his sentence, he will not be allowed any contact with underage girls and must register as a sex offender. He will also pay up to ten-thousand dollars in mental health treatment for the two teen girls.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) invites any member of the public interested in exploring a potential career with the DNR to attend a career fair in Eaul Claire on Saturday. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, learn more about the natural resource field, and explore full-time and part-time job opportunities with the DNR. The fair will be held at the Eau Claire DNR Service Center Saturday from 11am-2pm.
Minnesota is fining a major midwestern retail chain over a violation of state labor laws. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry has told Menards to pay back wages to an employee whose wages were deducted over 100 times because she was nursing her child. The woman will also be awarded damages after she was suspended from her job in Fridley for asserting her rights under Minnesota law. Menards was fined 15-thousand dollars by the state, though half the fine will be waived if the company complies with the agreement.
The search for a missing Black River Falls woman has come to a sad end. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office yesterday said a utility worker found 53-year-old Stacy Shramek's body. She's been missing since Thanksgiving. The worker found her body in the water near the Black River Falls Dam. No one is saying yet just how she died. The sheriff's office says it is investigating.
A La Crosse man who has a history with the police is facing charges after officers say he fired something at them on Monday. The 'projectile' exploded with a flash when it hit the squad car. No one was hurt in the explosion. Officers quickly arrested 30-year-old Shawn Keller. This is the fourth time in the past six months that La Crosse Police have arrested Keller for throwing something, shooting something, or spitting at officers.
The number of Wisconsin dairy farms continues to fall as the industry embraces larger herd sizes. Wisconsin lost 455 dairy farms in 2023 according to statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Wisconsin lost 50 farms in April, 48 in October, and 47 in July. Minnesota lost 58 dairy farms in November and 34 in August. Minnesota lost 146 dairy farms between January 1st and the end of November, putting both states on track to lose 7.4% of their dairy farms in 2023. The USDA says the nation has about 2% more dairy cows than a decade ago, but there are fewer dairy cattle than a year ago and fewer farmers managing those cattle.
Governor Evers says it's 'unlikely' that he signs off on the new political maps that Republican lawmakers are drawing. The legislature is attempting to draw new maps after the Wisconsin Supreme Court tossed the old maps just before Christmas. The governor on Monday said he doesn't see the legislature crafting an acceptable map without the Supreme Court's influence. The new liberal-majority court declared the maps used two years ago to be too gerrymandered in favor of Republicans. Governor Evers says he expects the new maps to be more 'purple.'
Wisconsin's right-to-garden legislation is back at the Capitol. This time the plan is heading before a Senate committee. The plan would stop local governments from forcing people to get a permit or a license to grow vegetables or flowers in their own yards. State Senator Andre Jacque says it's both an idea about individual freedom, and about being able to grow your own tomatoes. The plan has already gotten support in the State Assembly.
Rochester leaders have voted to extend historic landmark status to the city's Ear of Corn Water Tower. The city council voted unanimously yesterday to make the structure Rochester's 15th designated landmark. The water tower was built in 1931 and was restored by Olmsted County after the closure of the Seneca Foods canning factory a few years ago. The designation will force a review of any proposed changes that could alter the appearance of the water tower.
Wisconsin is getting 750-thousand dollars in grant money to provide safe housing to people with opioid addictions. Governor Tony Evers says the money is coming from the Recovery Voucher Program, which was developed in 2022 and helped 150 people with its initial, two-million dollar investment. Evers says the money will go to seven existing partnerships that provide services statewide. The Recovery Voucher Program is funded with the McKinsey and Company Opioid Settlement Funds, which totaled eleven-million dollars.
Applications are open for three vacancies in Wisconsin county court systems. Governor Tony Evers says he is looking for a new Rusk County District Attorney to finish out a term that will end January 2025. Applications are due on January 31. Applications for a Green County Circuit Court vacancy are due on February 9, and Marinette County Circuit Court applications are due on February 23, and applications. Both of those terms end in July 2025. Applications for all three positions will be accepted on the Wisconsin Governor's website.
A major battery manufacturer announces the closure of its second Southern Wisconsin plant. The shutdown of the Energizer plant in the city of Portage will lead to the layoff of 135 employees there. A letter sent by Energizer to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development states that the layoffs will be permanent, with the first wave of them starting on March 5th. The company says in the letter the layoffs will continue through the following months until the plant closes in December. Last October, Energizer announced the closure of their plant in Fennimore, which will leave another 172 of the company’s employees out of work when that facility shuts down in September.
A Wisconsin sausage maker is recalling one of its products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the recall of packages of Parkview Turkey Polska Kielbasa produced by Salm Partners of Denmark. The recall of the 13-ounce vacuum-sealed package was prompted after the USDA received consumer complaints reporting pieces of bone being found in the product, with one person reporting a minor oral injury from eating the sausage. The affected packages have an establishment number of P-32009 and use-by dates of April 24 and April 27 of 2024 printed on them. If you’ve purchased the products, you’re urged not to eat them and should either throw them away or return them to where they were purchased.
The IRS is giving someone a shot at owning a very expensive British sports car seized in Minnesota. The 2023 Aston Martin DB-11 has an estimated value of around 277-thousand dollars. The two-door coupe has less than 300 miles on it. The car is currently being housed at a towing company in Bloomington, and the winning bidder will have to make arrangements to pick it up within ten days of the close of the auction. Online bidding on the car opened yesterday and will continue through 11 a.m. on January 23rd.
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