The Durand City Council is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include reports from the mayor and department heads, a presentation on the Madison Street project and the council will go into closed session to consider a contract for the new city administrator. 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 city of Mondovi is considering some changes to the UTV/ATV ordinance. During last night's council meeting members talked about the possibility of requiring insurance and a valid driver's license for those 16 and older. Some council members would like to see the city ordinance be the same as the Buffalo County Ordinance to avoid confusion among UTV operators and authorities. It was decided to look at possible changes and have them ready at the next council meeting.
There are two new, operational solar arrays in Dunn County. Ribbon cuttings were held Monday in Boyceville and Colfax to celebrate their completion. Dunn Energy Co-Op built the new solar arrays with the help of Dairyland Power Cooperative, One Energy, and local landowners. They were built on a solar field that's been producing energy since January. The Boyceville array will generate enough power for 600 homes.
Crews have found the body of the man who went missing in the Eau Claire River over the weekend. Robert Hanson slipped below the water on Saturday while he was fishing. The sheriff's office yesterday said a kayaker found Hanson's body near Harstad County Park, by the County Road D bridge. Hanson's friends say he went into the water after he tried to walk across the river.
SkyWest may be coming back to the Chippewa Valley's airport. Airport managers this week said SkyWest and Sun Country Airlines are both applying to fly out of the airport in Eau Claire. SkyWest pulled-out of Eau Claire back in 2022, saying there wasn't enough business. Sun Country has held the contract for the airport ever since. That contract expires in November. The new contract, which they are both bidding on, will last for three years.
Prosecutors in Eau Claire say a local man stole 100 thousand-dollars from his grandmother. Evan Daniels is currently in jail on drug charges. This week, prosecutors charged him with exploiting his 92-year-old grandma. Investigators say Daniels was living with his grandmother, and was supposed to be playing her bills. Her accounts show she had 300 thousand-dollars at the beginning of the year, and now she has just 75 thousand-dollars left. It's not clear if Daniels spent the money on drugs. Daniels is due in court Friday.
La Crosse County is looking at homes for the homeless and a lot more green energy is its next strategic plan. The county announced yesterday that it is working on a new, five-year plan. The goals include bringing more people to town and increasing the workforce. But La Crosse county administrator Jane Klekamp says they also want to reduce the county's carbon footprint by 50 percent and bring high-speed internet to 85 percent of the county. Klekamp also says they want a plan to get the county's homeless population into homes in the next five years.
A judge says disabled voters in Wisconsin should be emailed their ballots this November. A Dane County yesterday said voters who cannot read or fill-out a paper ballot on their own can request an emailed ballot to make voting easier. The ruling comes after Disability Rights Wisconsin sued for the change. They say forcing disabled voters to rely on someone else to fill out and mail their ballot is an unconstitutional hurdle. Wisconsin's Elections Commission argued against the change, saying there's not enough time to get an email ballot system up and running before Election Day. While the ballot will be emailed to the voter, they will have to physically mail the ballot back to the clerk.
Minnesota Governor Walz says the total impact of flooding in Minnesota may not be known for several weeks. Walz and other state leaders toured areas of central and southern Minnesota by helicopter yesterday. The governor said the scope of the damage was much more visible from the air and could get worse since some rivers and streams have yet to crest. Walz also said he could call a special session of the legislature if damage totals exceed the amount of disaster relief money currently set aside. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said the state may be close to qualifying for federal aid that could help pay 75 percent of the cost of replacing vital infrastructure.
A missing Rice Lake woman may have passed through a trash incinerator. 39-year-old Melissa Davis has been missing since May 13. Rice Lake Police investigators said surveillance video from that evening shows Davis, alone, climbing into a dumpster near her residence and not exiting. The dumpster was emptied the next day and taken to the Barron County Incinerator. Suspected remains and clothing matching that of Davis were seen at the facility. All the contents from that day passed through the incinerator. Investigators said the search for Davis is ongoing.
US Senate candidates Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican Eric Hovde have agreed to a debate. The two will face off on October 8th, and the debate will be broadcast by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. The debate will be moderated by Poynter Institute faculty member Jill Geisler, and will feature questions from other panelists. Baldwin is seeking a third term in the US Senate. Hovde previously ran for Senate in 2012, but was defeated in the primary by Tommy Thompson.
Everyone involved in a lawsuit over Wisconsin's election maps will have to foot the bill for experts brought in to examine the case. The State Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the six separate parties that got involved with the lawsuit each owe just over 21-thousand dollars to pay for a pair of outside experts to examine proposed election maps. The case was dropped after Republicans and the Governor's office came to terms on a new map and passed it into law. Justice Rebecca Dallet says the two professors put in the time and effort to make rulings and should be paid for that time.
The chair of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission wants faster development of new nuclear technologies. Summer Strand commented during a WisPolitics luncheon in Madison last week. Strand said there is a lot of really exciting innovation research and development happening on the nuclear front. She said if she had it her way it would be happening faster and be more readily deployable now. Strand said the US Senate has approved a measure to facilitate that work. And she noted that European countries are already making progress on small modular reactors.
The U.S. Secret Service has finalized the security perimeter for next month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Police Chief Jeffrey Norman expects protesters to behave, and that anything beyond lawful protests will not be tolerated. People will be allowed to carry guns within blocks of the downtown security perimeter. Protesters will be given two outdoor stages outside the perimeter, although one will be within sight of Fiserv Forum. The RNC runs July 15-18 and is expected to bring thousands of delegates and others to Milwaukee.
A middle schooler from Eau Claire is headed to Washington, D.C. to represent Wisconsin in the national civics bee. Rya Mousavi won the Wisconsin Civics Bee last week. The judges decided that her essay on changes to public schools in the state was the best of the lot. Rya actually got second in the regional bee, but managed to grab first place at the state bee. She won a thousand-dollars and the chance to compete at the National Civics Bee later this fall.
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