The Pepin County Board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on a resolution calling for support of local and state emergency management programs, a resolution to establish camping fees at the Holden Park Campground, and establish quiet hours of 10pm-7am at the Holden Park Campground. Tonight's meeting begins at 7pm in the board room of the Government Center in Durand.
The Durand-Arkansaw School Board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include approval of the 2025-26 preliminary budget, renewal of property, casualty, and workers compensation insurance, and CFC for Cyber Security, and reports from district and building administration. The board will also go into closed session to discuss the early learning center project and consider bids to replace the kitchen cooling unit. Tonight's meeting begins at 6pm in the board room at Durand-Arkansaw High School.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday to celebrate the upgrades to the Holden Park Campground. The upgrades were paid for with ARPA money and grants. Pepin County Board Chairman Tom Milliren says it was a goal of the administrative committee to use the ARPA money with organizations that offered matching grants. The campground has new picnic tables, fire rings, showers, and new campsites.
A Buffalo County man has been arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 16 and other charges. 22Yr old Austin McGee was in Buffalo County Court to face the charges this week in connection with an incident in 2024 when the victim was 15. McGee was released on a $25,000 signature bond on Tuesday and ordered not to use or possess firearms or have any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
A trial got underway Tuesday in an appeal case involving the salary of Wabasha County’s elected attorney. The legal proceedings are from a November 2024 decision when the Wabasha County Board voted to cut Matthew Stinson’s 2025 pay by $20,000. According to Stinson, the board’s action violates a state statute, which he says, indicates his salary can’t be reduced during his current term. The board reconsidered the reduction and adjusted it to $11,000, which the board claims is in line with Stinson’s term guidelines. That trial is set to wrap in July.
The historic Zorn Arena on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus will be demolished next week. The venue opened in 1952 and was renamed to honor basketball player Bill Zorn in 1987. It's been vacant since last year, when basketball programs moved to the Sonnentag. Demolition will start next Monday, June 23rd, and is expected to be complete by September.
Charges are being filed against a Holcombe man accused of leading officers in a Sunday pursuit through parts of Rusk and Chippewa Counties. Reports say that 50-year-old Patrick Buswell failed to pull over for a traffic stop on Highway 27, and instead led officers in a chase on his motorcycle that spanned about 25 miles. Buswell was eventually apprehended and is looking at a list of charges that include attempted to flee, drug possession, and resisting arrest.
A Wisconsin congressman ridiculed Minnesota’s governor following the weekend political violence there. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz praised murdered state Representative Melissa Hortman in a Sunday morning post to ‘X.’ In a response directed at Walz on the same platform, Wisconsin 3rd District Representative Derrick Van Orden wrote "You appointed the crazy zealot that murdered her to one of your boards, you clown," and later that Walz is a “horrible governor that appoints political assassins to boards. Good job, stupid." That was a reference to Walz’ reappointment of accused assassin Vance Boelter to a nonpartisan workforce commission. A source in Walz's office told The Minnesota Star Tribune that the commission has about 60 members and that Walz did not know Boelter. Van Orden also criticized the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for reporting on his posts, accusing the paper of not telling “the whole story,” because Walz called on Democrats to be “meaner” in a recent speech.
Authorities say there was no forced entry during the break-in of the Eyota Food Pantry. The Olmstead County Sheriff's Office says the crime happened either Sunday night or Monday morning. Pantry officials report that one thousand pounds of food was stolen, including the freezer being emptied. Authorities are asking anyone with information about the break-in to contact the sheriff's office tip line at 507-328-6760.
Rusk County man who authorities say stole more than 100-thousand dollars from his workplace is learning his fate. According to reports, 27-year-old Lucus Jones was employed by the Marketplace in Ladysmith when the money went missing. He was charged with business setting and yesterday was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay back more than 75-thousand dollars.
There are well over one-billion dollars in tax cuts included in the state budget proposal issued by Wisconsin's Joint Finance Committee. This includes a break for retirees age 67 and older who would not have to pay any tax on retirement income up to 24 thousand dollars. The plan also includes an expansion of the second tax bracket for the state's earners, with top limits going from about 38-thousand annually for married couples to over 67 thousand and from roughly 28 thousand for single filers up to more than 50 thousand. Officials say that expansion would result in a total tax collection reduction of almost 650 million over the next two years.
The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions is placing some new guidelines on the operators of cryptocurrency ATM's. State officials say the machines are still new and have been largely unregulated, leaving them open for scammers to use to get anonymous payments from victims. Now, Bitcoin and other crypto ATM's will need to be set up to limit transactions to two thousand dollars per day for each user and they will be required to have scam warnings posted. DFI says the owners of the machines will also have to disclose their locations and keep up on all relevant anti-fraud policies and procedures.
Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, plus U.S. Representatives Mark Pocan and Gwen Moore are among the names on lists drafted by the gunman suspected in the shootings of Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses. A spokesperson for Baldwin says she was informed by law enforcement that she was on the shooter's list. Pocan and Moore also were notified by law enforcement they appeared on the shooter's lists. Suspect Vance Boelter is facing a litany of charges from Monday’s federal court appearance.
A nationwide opioid settlement is moving forward. Attorneys general from all 54 U.S. states and territories have reached a sweeping, multibillion-dollar settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family over marketing and distribution of opioids, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced Monday. The $7.4 billion agreement with the makers of oxycontin has not been finalized, and Kaul said the next step in the process is that local governments will be asked to join the settlement contingent on bankruptcy court proceedings. Under this settlement, Wisconsin’s state and local governments would receive as much as $80 million over the next 15 years.
The family of an Eau Claire middle school student is celebrating after they were recently named the winner of the statewide finals for the National Civics Bee competition. The National Civics Bee is an annual competition aimed at inspiring young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities. A South Middle School student named Leila won the state competition on Friday which means she collects a one-thousand dollar prize and will represent Wisconsin at the national finals in D.C.
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