Firefighters from Mondovi and Durand responded to a wildfire at S32 Hwy BB on Tuesday. According to Mondovi Fire, the fire started after the homeowner was burning garbage and the fire got out of control and burned about 4 acres of woods. Firefighters were on the scene for approximately 4 hours and the homeowner will have to pay $900 an hour plus other expenses. A burning ban remains in place in Buffalo County today.
Firefighters from Durand, Mondovi, Rock Creek, and 6 other departments were dispatched out to a wildfire off of County Hwy T near Brantner Road yesterday. The first call came in around 6pm and firefighters were on the scene for more of the evening. Hwy T was closed for nearly 4 hours because of the blaze. There were no reports of any building damaged or anyone hurt. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
The Durand Arkansaw School District has hired Troy Gunderson as a substitute superintendent for the rest of the school year. Gunderson is a past Principal and Superintendent for West Salem School District and is a professor teaching Superintendents at Viterbo. The district also hired the Wisconsin Association of School Boards to find a new Superintendent at a cost not to exceed $10,750. It is hoped a new superintendent can be found by May 15th. A planning meeting is set for March 28th at 6pm to begin the process. According to a representative from the WASB the vacancy has been posted and two people have expressed an interest in the position.
The Pepin County Board has approved creating an Ad-Hoc Committee to review the pros and cons of changing the form of government from Administrative Coordinator to County Administrator. Appointed to the committee are Supervisors Michael Wright, Kris Sabelko, Paul Hoch, John Andrews, and County Board Chairman Tom Milliren.
Winter returns to Western Wisconsin later tonight as the National Weather Services has Winter Weather Advisories in effect starting at 10pm tonight. A Winter Storm will move through the area with snow starting this evening and continuing until Friday morning. Two to Five inches are expected. Another stronger storm is in the forecast for the end of the weekend.
A judge sentenced an Eau Claire man to prison for his meth-fueled rampage last Halloween. The judge Monday gave Cole Evenson 13 months in prison for threatening to burn a woman's house down, then breaking into another home and destroying a TV. Police say Evenson was high and naked at the time. He's also accused of killing his roommate's dog. As part of the sentence, Evenson must remain completely sober.
An Eau Claire man is accused of shooting a crossbow toward a neighbor. 35-year-old Robert Willi is charged with recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon, and disorderly conduct in the incident, which occurred last Sunday. WEAU reports Eau Claire police responded to a report that a man had shot a crossbow near a neighbor. No one was injured and Willi eventually surrendered to the police who found two crossbows in his home. A court hearing is scheduled for next week.
Buffalo, Pierce, and Dunn Counties have been ranked high in a category that other counties would likely envy: They are rated one of the healthiest counties in the nation. The rating stems from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. All three counties are rated above state and national averages, while Pepin County is ranked average for the state and above average for national rankings. Health officials say several factors figure into this assessment, including the quality of healthcare and people's engagement in the community.
Pope Francis announced Tuesday morning that he has accepted Diocese of La Crosse's Bishop William Patrick Callahan's retirement request and appointed his replacement. Bishop Gerard Battersby will succeed Bishop Callahan as the 11th bishop of the diocese. Bishop Battersby, comes from the Detroit area. He will be installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse on May 20 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse.
The man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend last year appeared in court in Winona County Tuesday. Adam Fravel was present for a hearing ahead of his trial for first-degree murder in the death of Madeline Kingsbury. The judge agreed to several motions by prosecutors, including a motion to withhold the release of grand jury transcripts related to the case. The judge also heard a motion from the defense to suppress statements Fravel made to law enforcement during the investigation of Kingsbury's disappearance and death. The judge did not rule on that motion.
The FAA is investigating after a hot air balloon crash in Rochester. Three people were reportedly on board the balloon when it crashed near U.S. 63 South around seven o'clock last night. A Rochester Fire Department spokesperson said the balloon got hung up on a power line as it tried to land and dropped to the ground after the basket separated from the balloon. No one was seriously injured.
The ink is dry on a bipartisan measure to fund an electric-vehicle charging network serving Wisconsin's interstate system and major highways. State officials say Governor Tony Evers signed a bill yesterday that authorizes nearly 80 million dollars in federal construction aid to help gas stations, convenience stores, and other businesses install and operate electric vehicle charging stations. Lawmakers say the funding will enable the state to open 85 percent of Wisconsin's highway system to drivers of electric vehicles. Currently, the Badger State has just under 600 charging stations available for public use.
The superintendent of Wisconsin’s public schools responded to online threats made to a Waukesha middle school. Waukesha Police say Butler Middle School has received bomb threats and a school shooting threat over the past week. Though the department says the threats are not credible, noting that they came from Nigeria and Russia, an increased police presence has been placed at the school out of caution. Police believe the school received the threats because of "personal online posts" from a Butler staff member. The head of Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, Jill Underly, said in a Tuesday statement that the threats are driven by hatred, particularly towards members of the LGBTQ+ community. Investigators continue to look into the matter.
A Wisconsin pastor is among the Americans rescued from Haiti. Reverend Steve Svensen of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Rice Lake had been working with a non-profit in Port-au-Prince since late February. Last weekend, he and 12 others were airlifted out in a helicopter chartered by Florida congressman Cory Mills. Svensen is back in Wisconsin and hopes other Caribbean nations can broker a deal to bring help to Haiti.
Wisconsin is giving out almost four million dollars in grants to help employers train thousands of employees. The state Department of Workforce Development says the money will go toward training in construction, health care, manufacturing, and transportation. With the funding, 22 employers will train more than two thousand workers. The Wisconsin Fast Forward Program has given more than 49 million toward training 34-thousand workers.
Republican lawmakers at the Wisconsin Capitol say it is worrying that neither the state nor the UW have a plan to know who is working where or when. The heads of the state's Legislative Audit Commission yesterday pressed both the Department of Administration and the University of Wisconsin for answers about two audits that show a lot of people are working from home, and a lot of state-owned buildings are mostly empty. Senator Eric Wimberger said the state and the UW need to know where their people are. State Representative Bob Wittke says the state has invested billions of dollars in office space over the years, and he says someone should explain why it's empty. The state audit shows nearly three-quarters of workspaces are empty as many as five days a week.
A Republican will not enter the race for U.S. Senate from Wisconsin. The decision by Franklin businessman Scott Mayer leaves Madison and California businessman Eric Hovde to face two lesser-known candidates in the Republican primary. Mayer told WisPolitics he decided against running against Hovde to avoid a Republican primary that would damage their chances of beating Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin. Mayer expressed confidence that he would have beaten Hovde in the August primary and Baldwin in the November general election but said he didn't want to spend $20 million of his own money to do it.
Over-the-counter birth control is covered under Wisconsin insurance. BadgerCare Plus members will be able to pick up Opill without paying out of pocket. Opill is the first birth control medication approved by the FDA for use without a prescription or discussion with a doctor. It is in pharmacies now and is available in the next few weeks.
The company that owns Noah's Ark Waterpark wants a judge to stop the Village of Lake Delton from tearing down some empty and run-down hotel buildings. The fight is over what is left of the old Flamingo Hotel in the Dells. It closed in 2019 and never reopened. Noah's Ark bought the buildings and initially wanted to tear them down. Now, Noah's Ark says it wants to redevelop them in a few years. Village leaders say the buildings are falling apart and dangerous, they want to be able to tear the buildings down on their own.
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