Local-Regional News Aug 20

 

The Durand-Arkansaw School Board is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include discussion and possible action on a resolution authorizing borrowing of $1.3 million and the issuance and sale of general obligation promissory notes, the consideration of a facilities preventive maintenance contract, and approval of the fall 2025 dual credit requests. Tonight's meeting begins at 6pm in the board room at Durand-Arkansaw High School.

The final Music in the Park for the 2025 Summer is tonight. The Whitesidewalls will be performing from 6-9pm. It is also the Taste of Durand, featuring food from area restaurants. The Durand Improvement Group is asking those attending to bring a food item for the Durand Food Pantry. There will also be a special presentation tonight to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Bandshell at Memorial Park.

The City of Durand has announced that, due to donations, admission at the Tarrant Park Pool will be free for the rest of the week. Today is the Mayor’s Free Day, where the first 100 guests to the pool during open swim will receive free admission. Other donations are providing free admission on Thursday to the first 100 guests and on Friday for the first 150 guests. The pool is set to end the season this weekend.

Members of the Durand Fire Department recently attended training in Menomonie on grain rescue situations. Firefighters trained on using equipment used in pulling someone out of a grain bin. The training was put on by the National Education for Agricultural Safety and sponsored by Alcivia and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau.

Congressman Derrick Van Orden is being credited for his role in saving the life of a child over the weekend. The representative from Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district was driving with his wife Saturday on I-35 in southern Iowa when he heard the sound of an accident. The couple doubled back and Van Orden -- a former combat medic -- ran to the scene and applied makeshift tourniquets to an injured eleven-year-old boy. The child is hospitalized now and recovering.

Whitehall police are informing the public of a sex offender that is set to be released from prison. 45-year-old Shaun Weaver is set to be released from prison on Aug. 26, 2025, on his sentence for 1st degree sexual assault of a child. Weaver is set to live in Whitehall, and will be under the supervision of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Emergency personnel will stage a full-scale exercise tomorrow at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport. The airport is advising folks not to be alarmed if they see emergency vehicles in the area and hear radio communications that may seem out of the ordinary. It will all be part of the drill.

Authorities report they've identified a human skull found nearly 23 years ago in St. Croix County. The remains were found inside a plastic bag and in a wooded area of Houlton by a group of Boy Scouts in October of 2002. DNA evidence has helped investigators to identify the skull as belonging to 92-year-old Alyce Peterson who had died of natural causes in Minnesota in 2001. There is no word on how her skull found its way to St. Croix County.

Charges are being filed against a La Crosse man accused of strangulation and false imprisonment. Thirty-one-year-old Trenton Russell called police on Monday saying that someone had come into his home without consent and that he had forcibly thrown the man out. With officers on the way to the scene, that other man -- Ryan Freeman -- called police to say he had been attacked by Russell. Freeman says that he had been staying at the home for nearly a month, and that Russell blocked his path when he tried to leave and choked him for about thirty seconds. Russell was arrested at the scene.

State health officials are warning about possible measles exposure at two travel centers. People may have been exposed to the virus at the Pilot Travel Center on Milwaukee Road in Beloit and the Flying J Travel Center on 70th Avenue in Roberts. This would have happened August 4th between the hours of 7:15 a.m. and 10 a.m. at the Flying J -- and between 11:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at the Pilot in Beloit. The Department of Health Services says anyone who may have been there during those times should check their immunization status for the MMR vaccine.

Tony Haase is facing a wrongful death lawsuit after being acquitted of murder last week. Richard Togstad filed a lawsuit alleging Haase killed Tanna Togstad and Timothy Mumbrue with a knife in 1992. He was charged for both murder but acquitted by Waupaca County jury on August 11th. The suit is seeking 17 million dollars: Five million for compensatory and psychological damage, two million for Togstad's pain and suffering and ten million in punitive damages.

Provincial officials in Canada say wildfires there could continue through the fall. Reuters reports natural resources teams from British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta say conditions that contribute to wildfires are expected to remain into autumn. Continued drought and warmer than normal temperatures have not abated. More than 61 million acres of Canadian land have burned since 2023. Those fires have not only blanketed Wisconsin in smoke, they've also forced the evacuation of residents. About 13,000 First Nations peoples are still without homes.

The first round of funding from Wisconsin's Child Care Bridge Payments Program are going out. $8.7 million will go to more than 3,100 childcare providers. Governor Tony Evers says the funds will provide the financial stability providers need to stay open, recruit and retain qualified staff, and continue providing high-quality care for Wisconsin’s kids. According to Evers' office, this round of payments will help care for over 126,000 Wisconsin kids and help retain more than 25,000 childcare workers. The program was established as part of the Democratic governor’s 2025-27 budget compromise with Republican lawmakers, and will provide a total of $110 million to childcare providers through next June.

More than five-million barrels of cranberries are expected to be harvested this season in Wisconsin. The state has led the country in cranberry production for more than 30 years, with almost two-thirds of cranberries grown in the country harvested in Wisconsin. The crop brings in about one-billion-dollars in economic revenue, and creates more than four-thousand jobs annually.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is accusing TikTok of harming children. He plans to sue the social media giant, claiming it creates addictive behavior for young people and fails to follow state commerce laws. A Minnesota middle school teacher attended today's media gathering and said he's seen a spike in mental health issues related to TikTok in recent years. He added that the specific issues include a decrease in student attention span, students taking part in dangerous challenges, sleep deprivation, and depression.

The Wisconsin Art of Cheese Festival is back next month. Organizers announced Monday that this year's event would take place from September 25th to the 28th. Attendees will get the chance to look at the behind-the-scenes action of legendary creameries and attend other unique excursions. There will also be a cheese fair happening alongside the Dane County Farmers' Market. Twenty-nine exclusive ticketed events are being offered.