Pepin County has received a $2.1 million dollar grant through the Agricultural Roads Improvement Program. The grant is for a reconstruction project of Hwy R and will cover approximately 90 percent of the cost of the project. The Town of Maxville has received a $405,000 grant to reconstruct North Spring Creek Road. Both grants are part of the Agricultural Roads Improvement Program that was established in 2023.
A bit of a delay in the reconstruction of 6th Avenue East in Durand. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says the delay was requested by the city as the school parking lot is still being reconstructed and the city didn't want damage to the new road. Milliren says the project should be done by August 15th even with the delay.
We have more information on the barn fire in Pepin County early Thursday morning. According to the Sheriff's Department, the fire happened at N6833 Fall Creek Road. Deputies found a large part of the barn fully engulfed and starting to collapse. Deputies and the property owner entered the barn and were able to free most of the cattle from the building. Several dairy cows were injured and one was killed. Firefighters from Durand, Rock Creek, and Mondovi battled the blaze.
Most roads in Eau Claire County are open for ATV and UTV use. The County Sheriff's Office says unless a road sign specifically says no ATVs are allowed on the road, it should be open for use. The utility vehicles must stay as far to the right of the roadway as possible, and follow speed limits ot 35 miles per hour, unless the marked speed limit is slower. A map of eligible roadways is available on the Eau Claire County Sheriff's Facebook page.
A pair of city council members in Eau Claire say they are 'appalled' at the decision to remove the park benches and picnic tables from the local park where Eau Claire's homeless stay. Andrew Werthmann and Kate Felton said yesterday that they wanted to know what the plan was going forward. Eau Claire sent city crews to Wilson Park this week to remove the benches and tables as a way to deal with the growing number of homeless who are living in the park. City park crews say the homeless were getting aggressive, and leaving needles all over the place. Werthmann says it's not enough just to remove the benches. He says that doesn't solve Eau Claire's homeless issues. He wants to know what the city is going to do to get the homeless a place to stay.
Democratic US Senator Tammy Baldwin wants to prevent sudden hospital closures like the ones in Western Wisconsin. Baldwin introduced the H S H S Act on Thursday, which requires large hospitals to notify federal agencies of a pending closure at least 90 days beforehand. During that time, hospitals would be required to continue care for patients. The US Health and Human Services Department would also require closing hospitals to file plans on how to resume care for their patients once the closure takes place. Baldwin is currently running for a third term against likely Republican nominee, businessman Eric Hovde.
The remains of a soldier from Trempealeau who died at a POW camp after surviving the Bataan Death March during World War II are positively identified after nearly 82 years. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said that U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Jack H. Hohlfield, 29, was identified on May 29, 2024. He was a member of the 24th Pursuit Group and was captured following the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula. His remains will be returned and buried in La Crosse at a later date.
New ads are coming to let voters know about the constitutional amendments on next month's ballot. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and IRG Action are launching a new ad campaign to make sure voters know what the amendments will do. The two amendments would give Wisconsin lawmakers some say over how billions of dollars in federal money is spent going forward. Republican lawmakers adopted the amendments after Governor Tony Evers refused to give them any say in how he spent over four billion-dollars in COVID Monday. WILL's Rick Esenberg said it's not about politics, but about making sure one person doesn't have unlimited power in Wisconsin.
They're getting bat boxes in La Crosse. The Wisconsin DNR and the La Crosse Parks Department are teaming up to add bat boxes in Pettibone Park. The boxes are a natural fit for bats because it gives them a tight space to sleep, but the boxes are also necessary after recent floods pushed the bats out from their usual home under the bridge at the park. The DNR says the new boxes should have enough room for anywhere from 100 to 200 bats.
Wisconsin's public schools are among the best in the nation according to one new report. The folks at WalletHub are out with a new ranking of the best and worst school systems in the country, and Wisconsin's public schools come in at number five. The study looked at things like graduation rates, test scores, and student-to-teacher ratios. WalletHub gave Wisconsin high marks for math scores and SAT test scores. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey are the only schools ranked higher than Wisconsin. Arizona, Oklahoma, and New Mexico are the worst public school systems in the country according to the study.
A driver is under arrest in Madison after children were seen waving in distress from the back of a camper. Wisconsin State Patrol says calls started coming in Wednesday afternoon, with one witness reporting the children were asking them to call 9-1-1. The driver eventually exited the interstate and drove toward Madison when troopers found the camper. Deputies say 57-year-old Kenneth Thompson from Illinois was arrested after showing signs of impairment when they pulled him over. He's in the Sauk County Jail, and the charges are unknown.
The city of Rochester is doing away with public comments on its social media pages. The city stopped allowing comments yesterday after seeing an increase in "harmful content and negative interactions." A city spokesperson said the negative comments run counter to efforts to support and foster a welcoming and inclusive community. Mayor Kim Norton also turned off public comments on her social media pages yesterday.
US Senator Tammy Baldwin introduces legislation to lower prescription drug costs. The Wisconsin Democrat is in the midst of a competitive reelection campaign against developer Eric Hovde, the likely winner of the August Republican primary. Baldwin says the Capping Prescription Costs Act would require annual out-of-pocket prescription drug cost caps of $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families with private health insurance. The measure would extend the out-of-pocket cost seniors on Medicare will see in 2025 from the Inflation Reduction Act to the commercial health care market. Baldwin voted for the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included a cap on insulin prices.
Kohl’s employees have been ordered to return to the retailer's Menomonee Falls headquarters. The Journal Sentinel reports all corporate employees who live within 30 miles will be required to show up in person Monday through Thursday, beginning in mid-October. That will put an end to flexible and remote work arrangements in place since the pandemic. CEO Tom Kingsbury announced the policy change to Kohl’s employees in a Thursday memo, saying the decision was made "in service of greater collaboration." In May Kohl’s posted a loss and missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations for the first quarter of this year and lowered its forecast for the full year.
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