The Durand Ambulance Service will need a new medical director after the announcement of the closure of HSHS Sacred Heart. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says the current director is employed by Sacred Heart. The loss of the medical director would also mean the loss of training for ambulance members.
No one was injured in a vehicle fire in Pepin County on Tuesday. According to the Pepin County Sheriff's Department, firefighters responded to the fire on Hwy BB and found a truck owned by Alyssa Bethke of Durand on fire. Firefighters quickly put out the fire and the cause is unknown.
Business owners or those thinking of starting a business in the Durand area are invited to a Small Business Empowerment meeting tonight at 5:30 at Club 10. Mark Tallman from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will share strategies to help small businesses grow and succeed. The event is free and is sponsored by the Durand Improvement Group.
Wisconsin's governor and the state's Health Services boss are saying a lack of a Medicaid expansion in the state led to the decision to close two hospitals in western Wisconsin. Governor Evers and DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson were in Eau Claire yesterday, where they said the decision from HSHS and Prevea to close their hospitals and clinics leaves patients in the Chippewa Valley with fewer choices. The governor then tried to link a lack of Medicaid expansion to that decision to close. He said hospitals across the state need more money, and he said expanding Medicaid to cover more single, childless men would bring in more money. HSHS and Prevea said they were forced to close because of inflation, workforce issues, the pandemic, and other industry-wide trends.
Two people are recovering from a house fire in Delmar last night. Firefighters say both suffered from smoke inhalation. Firefighters say the fire started in the garage and sent smoke into the rest of the house. Fire crews were able to put out the fire, but not before they said it did some serious damage to the garage.
The Pierce County Fair is looking for Century and Sesquicentennial Farms and homes in the county to recognize during this year's fair. Liz Dietsche with the Pierce County Fair says qualified farms and homes must be owned by the same family throughout the 100 or 150 years. Applications are available by contacting Dietsche at the Pierce County Fair and are due by February 22nd.
A Chippewa man is accused of an OWI after police say he drove onto Lake Altoona while evading officers. Lake Hallie Police say were trying to pull over a speeding pickup Tuesday night when the driver turned off the headlights and drove out onto Lake Altoona. Then Altoona Police got a call for help and found the truck stuck in the snow on the lake. Twenty-two-year-old Nicolas Rickey was arrested trying to cross the lake on foot. Police say he had alcoholic drinks in his pockets and in the back of the pickup.
More details emerge about a grisly Juneau County death over the weekend. Prior to police finding a partially burned body on the side of a road near the parking area for the Oakridge Trail Saturday morning, a criminal complaint says an unoccupied, burning vehicle was found in the middle of a Necedah road earlier that morning. The found corpse, identified as 57-year-old Floyd Burdick of Grand Marsh, was missing the lower part of his left leg. Investigators believe a prosthetic leg which was later found five yards away from Burdick’s body was thrown. An autopsy determined that Burdick had been shot in the head multiple times. Two suspects have been charged with several felony counts in connection with the death, which has been ruled a homicide.
Wisconsin lawmakers are eyeing a change for fish fillets. The State Assembly is scheduled to vote today on a plan that would change state law to allow fishermen to take more filleted or dressed fish home. Currently, fishermen can only transport fish fillets that meet state length requirements for smaller fish, which often means taking the whole fish home. The new law would allow fishermen to fillet the fish, as long as they took a time-dated picture of the whole fish, showing that with the head and the tail, the fish was legally long enough to keep.
The president of the University of Wisconsin says young people are not looking to go to the university's branch campuses. President Jay Rothman yesterday said the demand is different for the UW's local campuses than it once was. He says enrollment at branch campuses has plummeted over the past 10 years. He says online options have changed the marketplace for small, local campuses. Rothman's comments came after UW-Green Bay last week said it will end in-person classes at its Marinette campus at the end of the current semester.
State Senate Republicans on Tuesday approved a revised version of Governor Tony Evers’ proposed legislative maps. The changes avoid placing Republican incumbents in the same district running against each other. The tweaked maps passed on a 17-14 vote with Republicans Joan Ballweg, Julian Bradley, Chris Kapenga, and Eric Wimberger voting no with Democrats. Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, dismissed the plan as “incumbent protection” in an interview with WisPolitics. Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu defended what he called “minor” changes to undo what he said was Evers’ attempt to target Republican incumbents. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has said it is prepared to draw maps if Evers and the Republican-led Legislature cannot reach an agreement over a lawsuit that alleges the maps give Republicans an unfair advantage.
The latest tax cut proposal from Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol is smaller and broken down into pieces. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu introduced a two-billion-dollar tax cut package yesterday. It would give married couples making up to 150 thousand-dollars a tax break, as well as expand Wisconsin's marriage tax credit and child care tax credit. The proposal would also make retirement for most people in the state tax-free. Vos says he hopes the smaller, piecemeal proposal is enough for Governor Evers to sign at least one part of it. The governor has vetoed the Republicans' other tax-cut plans in the past.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) remind producers to apply for crop insurance premium rebates. The rebate application is web-based and will be available on DATCP’s website until January 31, 2024, or until program funding is exhausted. There is $800,000, or 160,000 acres of coverage, to be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Eligible participants will receive a $5 per acre rebate on their summer 2024 crop insurance premium for acres that were planted with cover crops in 2023, and then planted with an insurable crop in 2024.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will spend nearly 150-million dollars over the next few years improving facilities around the state. The money was set aside in the state budget by Governor Walz to help modernize outdoor recreation experiences across Minnesota. In addition to 60-million for fisheries and 35-million for improving access to public lands, the DNR will spend 35-million to improve boating access and ten-million to restore streams and natural habitats. Other funds will go toward camping and infrastructure improvements at several state parks.
A Madison man was arrested for throwing snowballs. It sounds pretty juvenile, but it wasn't a laughing matter for the woman that was the target. On Tuesday night, police say a man became upset with a woman he thought was taking too long to get gas.....so he started throwing snowballs at her car and is also accused of pounding on her windows. Police arrested him on charges of disorderly conduct and bail jumping.
Voting is now open for MnDOT's annual "Name a Snowplow" contest. Transportation officials have whittled down eight-thousand submissions to just fifty finalists. They include "Barbie's Dream Plow," "Dolly Plowton" and "Don't Flurry, Be Happy." To see the full list and vote for your favorite name, go to MdDOT's website.
No comments:
Post a Comment