One person was injured in a single vehicle accident in Maiden Rock Township on Sunday. According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, 24yr old Morgan Traynor of Maiden Rock was traveling eastbound on Hwy CC, approaching 150th Avenue when he lost control of the vehicle, entered the ditch and overturned. Traynor was taken to Advent Health in Durand with undetermined injuries.
Durand and the Chippewa Valley saw warmth yesterday, now we are waiting for the cold. The National Weather Service is predicting falling temperatures today, and possibly even some snow for the drive home. Forecasters say it will get much colder tonight, with overnight lows as low as zero. Things start to warm-up after that, and the Weather Service says the Chippewa Valley could see new record high temperatures over the weekend.
UW-Eau Claire is asking that a racial discrimination lawsuit be dismissed. The university responded yesterday to the lawsuit from its former interim director of the Office of Multicultural Student Services. Rochelle Hoffman, who is white, says she was moved from her job at the new MSS office in early 2022 because she is white. Hoffman says she was told she was being reassigned for her personal and professional safety. UW-Eau Claire denies that ever happened. The university does say Hoffman was stripped of her classes, but that was only because she was no longer with the MSS office. Hoffman says in her lawsuit that she faced a 'racially hostile and abusive work environment because she identified as white.'
Eau Claire County's health department says the Chippewa Valley will lose about a third of its healthcare capacity when Sacred Heart and St. Joe's close in April. Public health managers yesterday shared the numbers of what the HSHS closings will mean. Sacred Heart and St. Joe's handle anywhere from just under, to just over a third of hospitalizations, inpatient surgeries, and ER visits. Mayo Health in Eau Claire handles the majority of all care in the area, with the Marshfield Clinics coming-in a close third. Losing Sacred Heart will mean losing more than 100 hospital beds, and will leave many people on Wisconsin's BadgerCare looking for a new hospital. HSHS and Prevea announced they are closing due to economic pressures and industry trends. They are set to close their doors in mid-April.
Chippewa County leaders are spelling out why they no longer trust Sheriff Travis Hakes. County Administrator Randy Scholz and Board Chair Dean Gullickson issued a joint statement yesterday saying they have zero confidence in Hakes based on how he talked to a female 911 dispatcher, what he said about his outside jobs, the dim view that the county's D.A. has of Hakes' credibility, and his damaging the credibility of the sheriff's department. The full county board took a no-confidence vote in Hakes about two weeks ago. Sheriff Hakes continues to say the county's displeasure, and the continuing investigations, are being prompted by his political opponents.
It is February and there's already a wildfire warning across large parts of Wisconsin. The DNR yesterday warned people about the lack of snow cover and the growing fire danger. The DNR says this year has seen an abnormally warm winter, and that is leaving a lot of dry brush across the state. High winds are not helping either. The DNR says it has already responded to over 50 fires that burned 160 acres. There are burn bans in place in 25 Wisconsin counties.
The redistricting experts brought-in by the Wisconsin Supreme Court are getting a six figure payday for not drawing the state's new political maps. The experts submitted their 128 thousand-dollar bill on Sunday. About half of that will come from taxpayers, the other half will come from the people and groups involved in the state's redistricting battle. The experts ruled that none of the seven proposals to replace Wisconsin's old political maps were good enough. The experts offered to draw their own maps, but lawmakers cut that process short by approving Governor Evers' maps. He signed those maps last week.
An elderly Rochester woman was scammed out of 18-thousand-dollars. Police say the 87-year-old victim received a call last week from a person who claimed to be her son, stating he was involved in a car accident. The man claiming to be her son then told her to call his attorney. The woman complied and the so-called attorney said her son was in jail as a result of the accident and needed 18-thousand-dollars for bond. Police say the woman withdrew the money from the bank and a man later came to her door to collect the money on the attorney's behalf. She later contacted her son and learned he hadn't been in a car accident or arrested.
Hundreds of Wisconsin employers and students will participate in new youth apprenticeship programs this year. Governor Tony Evers says more than 400 students signed up for the business administration and education programs. Both career fields were added to the Youth Apprenticeship Program last September. Participants take one or two years to take classes about their chosen field while working outside of the classroom. Evers says more than eight-thousand students signed up statewide last school year.
There is a call for criminal charges against a Republican lawmaker, and the man who wanted to unseat the Assembly Speaker in 2022. The state's Ethics Commission on Friday asked local prosecutors to look into State Representative Janel Brandtjen and Adam Steen, who ran against and lost to Speaker Robin Vos two years ago. The Ethics Commission says the two were part of a scheme to skirt campaign donation limits by funneling money through the Langlade County Republican Party. That money was then funneled to Steen's failed primary bid against Vos. In all, the Ethics Commission says, the two were able to move 40 thousand-dollars to Steen's campaign.
Ticks aren't something you typically worry about in February but a warm winter means otherwise. UW - Whitewater Biology Professor Tom Klubertanz says besides more opportunities to contract Lyme disease, a longer tick season brings the threat of southern tick species migrating north. Klubertanz says even when it still feels like winter, ticks are active and you should still be wearing light-colored clothing and wearing repellent just as you would in the summer.
A Minnesota native is the winner of the 50th Annual American Birkebeiner--the largest cross-country skiing race in North America. Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins from Afton, Minnesota, won the 50-kilometer event this weekend.
The search continued and expanded over the weekend for a missing 3-year-old boy in Two Rivers. Police there say search efforts for Elijah Vue are taking place "on land and water," with boats, dive teams, drones and K-9s joining in. The search for the toddler, who was last seen Tuesday morning, has now extended to Wisconsin Dells, which is the home of the boy’s mother, Katrina Baur. Two Rivers authorities say the 31-year-old Baur handed her son over to 33-year-old Jesse Vang for discipline. Both Baur and Vang are accused of child neglect.
The new annual fishing licenses are on sale with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The 2024-25 variety goes into effect on March first. There's a wide variety of available options. Some of the most popular are an angling pass for one person and a combination permit for married couples. More information is available online at dnr.state.mn.us
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