The city of Durand has agreed to lease the old Badger Communications Building from Ntec for the police department and ambulance service. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says the new facility would help with their space needs. The ambulance service will also have sleeping quarters. The city will pay $1500 a month for the quarters, and it hopes to begin the move-in process in March.
No one was injured in a yard shed fire on Tuesday. According to Durand Fire, firefighters were called to the home with the shed at Hwy N and Bear Pen Road south of Ella on Tuesday. When firefighters arrived, the shed was completely engulfed. The shed and its contents were a total loss. No cause of the fire has been determined.
Aspirus Health is expanding in the Chippewa Valley. The Wausau based health system recently received a conditional use permit to build a hospital in Chippewa Falls. Aspirus is planning to build it along Highway 29. The next step is to finalize the land purchase agreement and get approval from the full city council, which is expected to happen in a few weeks. The new hospital comes after two others closed in the Chippewa Valley last year.
The final plans for the first phase of the Orchard Hills Development in Eau Claire are being approved by the Eau Claire City Council. The plan is to build 34 new single-family homes on a 400-plus acre plot this summer. Reservations are open for prospective tenants with a move in date of spring next year. The land had previously been the center of a legal battle between Eau Claire and the Town of Washington over annexation.
The March for Meals campaign through the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Eau Claire County is raising money for the Meals on Wheels program. The campaign provides an opportunity for groups, businesses and people to support Eau Claire seniors who aren't able to grocery shop or those who aren't physically able to cook for themselves. Donations that come in for March for Meals directly go to the costs of producing meals. People can support and find more information on the Eau Claire County website.
Western Wisconsin residents are being warned about another phone scam targeting elderly people. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department says scammers are calling senior citizens pretending to be a grandchild or another relative claiming they are in trouble and need money right away. The sheriffs department says a surge in the calls have resulted in over $200,000 in losses. If someone receives one of these calls they are to just hang up immediately.
Lawyers for a former state trooper are asking an Olmsted County judge to dismiss the charges against him. Shane Roper appeared in court yesterday in Rochester. He is facing manslaughter and other charges for a crash that killed an 18-year-old girl last year. Prosecutors entered evidence they plan to use at trial, including Roper's squad car and body camera footage. Defense attorneys asked the judge to consider motions to dismiss the charges against Roper and change the venue of his trial. His attorneys also want Roper's State Patrol disciplinary record excluded from the trial.
The US Department of Education is investigating the Minnesota State High School League's transgender athlete policy. The organization said it would allow students to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity, not their gender assigned at birth. This, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from women's and girl's sports. The MSHSL stated that trans athletes' eligibility is determined by state law and is not federally mandated.
Proposed changes to grant funding by the National Institutes for Health could have serious consequences for the Universities of Wisconsin. A federal judge on Monday blocked the NIH’s announced 15% cap on indirect costs for all new and current grants. In a Monday ‘Newsmakers’ interview with WisconsinEye UW System President Jay Rothman talked about what those grants support. He said at UW Madison alone, the NIH supports research on cancer, Alzheimer's Disease and diabetes. A federal judge on Monday blocked the NIH’s announced 15% cap on indirect costs for all new and current grants. The change would impact UW Madison and UW Milwaukee, both of which receive NIH research funding. In the interview with WisconsinEye, Rothman said the decision from the Trump Administration “was not done in a businesslike fashion” and that “it doesn't look like there was a whole lot of analysis that went into it.”
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul is joining a lawsuit against John Deere. Wisconsin and four other states accuse Deere of forcing owners of its equipment to only use its own teams to make adjustments or repairs. Deere has been at the center of the 'right to repair' movement, with farmers and mechanics accusing the company of disabling any tractor that is repaired by its owner or third parties. Moline, Illinois based Deere is the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment.
Republican lawmakers argue for state employees to return to the office full time under a proposed bill. The legislation is co-authored by Pleasant Prairie State Representative Amanda Nedweski. The bill would require all state employees to work full-time in state office buildings starting July 1st, unless there is a telework agreement in place or the job was a telework position before the pandemic. Democratic Governor Tony Evers has already said he’ll veto the legislation.
A couple of Wisconsin church groups are among the religious organizations that are now filing a lawsuit over President Trump's immigration enforcement policy. The Wisconsin Council of Churches and Wisdom Inc., based in Milwaukee, have signed onto a legal complaint that asks the federal court in D.C. to block Trump's order that authorized immigration agents to go into places like churches and schools to detain non-citizens. The lawsuit claims that some churches in the U.S. are seeing declines in attendance and social services participation because people are afraid of being detained or deported.
UW-Madison is reporting an increase in e-bike and e-scooter thefts. University police say five thefts have been reported in the past eleven days including at the Memorial Union and two residence halls. The department recommends owners use heavy duty locks and park in highly-lit areas. Anyone with information about their thieves is asked to call the UW-Madison Police Department.
A Minnesota man has set a new world record for playing the fastest round of disc golf. Guinness World Records announced yesterday that Jonathan Wolfrath completed 18 holes at a Fridley disc golf course in just under five minutes. The previous record was about seven and a half minutes. Wolfrath says he also plans to try for the record for playing the most disc golf holes in 24 hours.
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