Excitement continues to build for the Durand-Arkansaw Girls Basketball team as they prepare for their upcoming WIAA Division 4 State Semi-Final Game on Thursday. Students at the school are showing their support and residents and businesses in the community are making signs, and painting storefronts to show their support. Durand-Arkansaw School Superintendent Ryan Nelson says the district and community are feeling a sense of pride. A send off pep rally is being planned for Wednesday, and WRDN Radio will broadcast the State Semi-Final Game on Thursday night, with expanded coverage beginning at 6pm.
The Mondovi City Council is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include approval of allowing open containers in the downtown during Thursday’s Shamrock Shuffle, and reports from the Mayor and city Department Heads. Tonight's meeting begins at 5:30 at the Marten Center in Mondovi.
The entire state of Wisconsin saw plenty of sunshine and most cities saw record high temperatures hit. Yesterday, one day after Day Light Saving, high temperatures were anywhere from 60 to 70 degrees. Western Wisconsin saw temps in the High 60's. Some areas even hit 70. The warmth didn't last long as more seasonable weather is rolling in for today. Temperatures get back into the 40's as a cold front moves through the region.
The Eau Claire City Council is considering a resolution that would ask Congress not to make cuts to several federal programs. Councilmen Roderick Jones and Andrew Werthmann introduced the resolution, which would ask that Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and Social Security programs don't face budget cuts. That's in response to a U.S. House plan that would cut 880-billion dollars. A public input session was hosted last night, and the Council will vote on the resolution later today.
A La Crosse committee has decided to reverse its stance on terminating a parking lease agreement due to unpleasant odors coming from City Brewery. The Board of Public Works reconsidered its earlier decision and chose not to act on ending the lease. Last week, the board had pushed to cancel the lease for parking spaces on Isle La Plume, citing concerns about a persistent rotten egg smell caused by a leak in the water treatment plant's roof. In response, the brewery assured that they plan to repair the roof this year.
3rd Congressional District Republican Representative Derrick Van Orden says he spoke with Elon Musk last week and that Musk assured him the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE, will be more refined in its recommendations, to ensure veterans and farmers are not harmed by federal budget cuts. Van Orden says he’ll raise farm and veterans issues when he meets with DOGE staff and that federal benefits to vets and farmers won't be interrupted. The federal Department of Veteran Affairs employs almost 500,000 people with more than 25% of them being veterans, and the Associated Press reported last week that there are plans to cut over 80,000 jobs at the department.
More than four-billion dollars is earmarked for Wisconsin infrastructure in Governor Evers' 2025-2027 budget proposal. The money would go toward major projects in 26 counties. Evers says all of the investments in his proposal will create more than seven-billion dollars in economic activity and support more than 37-thousand jobs. The budget also includes one-point-six billion dollars for the Universities of Wisconsin and 325-million for correctional institutions.
UW Madison political scientist Barry Burden says much of the advertising in the race between Dane County Judge Susan Crawford and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel has little to do with the actual job of a state Supreme Court Justice . Burden says ads do help voters to understand the candidates’ allegiances to groups and causes, their judicial philosophies and how they think about cases.
A city in Wisconsin is now the first to be 100-percent powered from natural resources. Sun Prairie's recent 800-thousand dollar solar panel purchase was mostly funded by grants. The City of Sun Prairie Sustainability Manager said "since we are consuming a lot of energy that we are now producing ourselves through our rooftop and ground-mounted solar arrays, we paid for that investment upfront, and now we have significantly lower electricity bills." The city has already saved an estimated 40-thousand dollars since implementing the panels last year.
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman says indirect costs targeted by Trump Administration funding cuts have a real connection to research. During a press conference last week on how campus leaders are responding to cuts, Rothman likened the funding to gasoline in a car, without which the car can't move. He said indirect costs include things like laboratory space, and providing regulatory compliance that's important to issues around patient safety. He said there is no indication that cutting indirect costs will result in more money going to directly fund lifesaving research. Rothman and UW Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said campuses are preparing for expected funding cuts.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission will depose Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl as part of an ongoing investigation into 193 uncounted ballots from the November election. Friday’s unanimous vote followed sharp criticism from WEC Chair Ann Jacobs. Jacobs referred to the time lag between the first bag of ballots being opened in late November and successive missteps before the issue came to light publicly a month later, calling it "absolutely shocking." A spokesperson for the city said the clerk’s office is cooperating with the investigation. Also last week, liberal law firm Law Forward initiated a class-action lawsuit against the city and Dane County on behalf of four Madison voters whose ballots were among those uncounted.
Minnesota State Senator Melisa Lopez Franzen is entering the race for the U.S. Senate. She formerly served as the Democratic leader of the Minnesota Senate. Lopez Franzen says her campaign will focus on fighting for working families, expanding economic opportunity, and bringing common sense and decency to Washington. Her move comes after Senator Tina Smith announced that she wouldn't run for reelection. Other candidates are Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, 2024 Senate candidate Royce White, and 2022 Congressional hopeful Adam Schwarze.
Minnesota legislators are expected to consider a change to the state's deadly use-of-force law. Currently, legislation says that force is necessary to protect a peace officer or another from death or great bodily harm. A newly proposed bill adds the word apparent to the statute where it reads that force is necessary to protect a peace officer or another from apparent death or great bodily harm. Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association general counsel Imran Ali told a House Committee last week that the current language does not take into account split-second decisions.
Help the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with black bear research. The agency is asking the public to submit information about the location of black bear dens found across the state. The Black Bear Litter and Diet Survey will help produce new estimates of reproductive rates within each bear management zone, and better specify population models used to manage them. If you locate a den, you're asked to provide a photo and description of the den and its surrounding area, and describe bear activity near the site. Keeping approximately 30 yards away from the den is advised for safety.
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