The Durand – Arkansaw School District Board of Education completed first-round interviews on April 30 and May 2 for the district’s superintendent opening. Four candidates were selected to participate in first-round interviews from an original field of eight applicants. Upon completion of initial interviews, the Board selected two finalists. One finalist, Dr. Ryan Nelson, will participate in a final round of interviews with the Board of Education and district administrators on May 14. The second finalist decided to remain with their current district and withdrew their application. Dr. Nelson is completing his tenth year as the district administrator for the Augusta Area School District in Augusta, Wisconsin. Prior to becoming the superintendent, Ryan served as the elementary principal in the district for three years.
The Durand City Council is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on the renewal of the School Resource Officer Contract between the city and the Durand-Arkansaw School District, along with reports from the Mayor, City Administrator, and Department Heads. Tonight's meeting begins at 6:30pm at Durand City Hall and will be live-streamed on the WRDN Website.
Durand Public Works is informing residents that street seal coating projects will begin next Monday. Sealcoating will be happening on Washington Street from 6th Ave East to 11th Ave East, 9th Avenue East from Prospect Street to Washington Street, 10 ave East from Washington Street to the end of 10th Avenue. There will be no parking and roads will be closed until the seal coating has cured. Crews will begin at 9am on Monday, depending on the weather. The project should be completed by May 17th.
Lawmakers in Madison continue to say Governor Evers is to blame for the lack of hospital money in the Chippewa Valley. State Representative Mark Born yesterday said Governor Evers decided to change the specifics of the proposal that would have sent 15 million dollars to the other hospitals in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. The legislature agreed on that money after HSHS closed Sacred Heart and St. Joe's back in March. Born says the governor decided to expand the plan and send the money to other hospitals across western Wisconsin, and allow it to be used for whatever those hospitals wanted. Born says the governor has his chance but chooses to play games instead. Meanwhile, State Senator Jeff Smith said the JFC "kicked the can down the road" and called the inaction of the committee "inexcusable, if not unconstitutional".
The sheriff in Chippewa Falls is reminding people that they don't call people and threaten to arrest them. The sheriff's office yesterday issued a warning about a phone scam that is making the rounds. The scammers call people and threaten to arrest them unless they pay a fine. The real sheriff says that's not how it works. He says if you get a call, simply hang up.
The man arrested in Lake Hallie for running down the road with a machete last February is now a wanted man. Court records show Chad Nylen skipped his court date yesterday. Police say Nylen told them he was drunk and high on meth when he was arrested back in February. In addition to the machete, police say Nylen tried to crash into a squad car before he was arrested. Nylen has an active warrant out of Eau Claire County as well.
Some wedding barn owners in Wisconsin are taking the state's new liquor law to court. Two wedding barn owners, one from Berlin and the other from Blair, yesterday filed a lawsuit against the state's Department of Revenue. The owners say Wisconsin's new liquor law that requires wedding barn owners to either limit their offerings or get an expensive liquor license is unconstitutional. Wisconsin lawmakers overhauled the state's liquor laws last year. In addition to sweeping changes for how beer, liquor, and wine can be sold, the new law included a change aimed at small wedding barns that allowed people to bring their own beer and liquor to their events. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty says that the law is wrong because it was essentially written by lobbyists to benefit the state's enshrined liquor powers that be.
A Midwest-based grocery store is recalling several products over potential salmonella contamination. Hy-Vee stores say some of their plain regular and whipped cream cheese spreads, and cookies and cream mix, are covered by the recall. No illnesses have been reported in Wisconsin. There are eight locations in the state, including in the Madison and Eau Claire areas. Hy-Vee recommends throwing the product away or returning it for a refund.
A Southeast Minnesota School District is facing a budget shortfall. The Byron School District announced that the district will have a $1 million budget shortfall this school year and next school year. The district says rising healthcare costs, declining enrollment, and the ending of Covid-19 funding are all playing into the reasons for the shortfall. The Byron School Board will have a special meeting on Monday to discuss recommended actions and the board will meet again on May 20th to discuss possible staffing reductions.
A Rochester middle school is going back to its pre-COVID policy of having students leave their backpacks in their lockers. The principal of Kellogg Middle School says the revived policy will go into effect today. In a letter to parents, the principal said the backpacks create a distraction because of the items students carry into class. That includes prohibited items like vape pens and pocket knives. Students can carry a drawstring bag with them to class if needed.
Former President Donald Trump is set to headline the Minnesota Republican Party's annual Lincoln Reagan dinner. He is marking his first visit to Minnesota for the 2024 election cycle. The event, expected to occur next week during the party's annual convention in St. Paul, has sparked both excitement among Republicans and criticism from Democrats. Trump's campaign officials have expressed confidence in Minnesota's potential to be in play for the 2024 election despite his loss in the state to President Joe Biden in 2020.
Non-protesting UW Madison students meet with campus officials. The Daily Cardinal first reported that students on the Madison campus met with Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and other members of the administration on Monday. In the meeting, students shared personal experiences of intimidation, harassment, and antisemitism they experienced from encampment protestors and outside agitators. While pro-Palestinian protesters have issued a set of demands, the non-protesting group has a set of requests, including defining and condemning antisemitism and allowing representatives of Jewish and Israeli students and unaligned groups in any negotiations.
A pair of student groups at UW-Madison are suspended, and under investigation over what they wrote in chalk at Madison's farmers market over the weekend. The university yesterday said Mecha de UW Madison and the Anticolonial Scientists both received interim suspensions yesterday. The UW is not saying exactly what the group's members wrote in chalk, but the university says it endorsed violence, supported terrorist groups, and was antisemitic in nature. The suspension means the groups cannot meet or use university spaces for any of their activities.
Uber and Lyft are not happy with a compromise on rideshare compensation proposed by state lawmakers and the city of Minneapolis. The compromise announced yesterday would raise rideshare pay to a dollar-27 a mile and 49 cents a minute. The Minneapolis City Council had suggested a higher amount but has agreed to go along with the compromise reached at the state level. Uber and Lyft both say the rate is still too high and now say they will stop operating statewide if the legislature passes the measure.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is charging eight people who are linked to an alleged scheme to defraud the state's Medicaid program out of two-point-six million dollars. He says the defendants used the stolen identities of hundreds of people, who are mostly from the Faribault area, to charge Medicaid for services the victims did not receive. They are charged with several felonies including racketeering, and identity theft. The charges come about five months after Ellison brought charges in another Medicaid fraud case, which involved close to eleven million dollars in billing.
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