The Durand-Arkansaw School Districts new Early Learning Center is completed. Superintendent Ryan Nelson says the center will be opening later this month. The District will be having a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new center today at 5.
As the Madison Street project continues in Downtown Durand residents may notice crews building bump-outs onto the street. Durand Mayor Patrick Milliren says those bump-outs will lead to some one-way streets from Madison to Main Street. 3rd Avenue West will remain two-way after the project is completed.
One person is in custody following a deadly crash on Interstate-90 near Eau Claire. Officials responded to the single-vehicle accident Monday night after a pickup truck drifted off the roadway before it vaulted and came to rest in the median. Officers observed signs of impairment and continued investigating. The passenger died due to her injuries. The driver, Cyrus Muehlberg, was arrested, and the crash remains under investigation.
The City of Chippewa Falls is continuing their search for a City Administrator. Mayor Jason Hiess says there's "no offers of employment" that are being extended to the interviewed candidates for the positions so far. The Chippewa Falls City Council unanimously approved funding for the position at their meeting in December 2025. There hasn't been a city administrator since 2009.
A water quality advisory is being issued for Half Moon Beach. The Eau Claire City-County Health Department says the beach's water is testing positive for elevated bacteria levels. Folks are being advised that the water could make them sick or cause skin rashes.
In Barron County, bond has been set at half-a-million dollars for a man accused of trying to hire a killer. Prosecutors say Tyler Crotteau was incarcerated at the county jail when he tried to hire a fellow inmate to kill the mother of his child. The man he reportedly tried to hire informed jail officials and Crotteau later confessed. He is charged with solicitation to commit first degree murder.
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development announced a new grant initiative intended to fund projects to address healthcare workforce challenges in Wisconsin’s rural communities. According to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce development, the program is called the Workforce Innovation Grant: Healthcare Employment, Access, and Rural Transformation, and it will make up to $150 million available over the next four years for projects aimed at strengthening the healthcare workforce in rural and semi-rural parts of the state. Nonprofit and government organizations can apply for awards ranging from $500,000 to $10 million, as long as they’re partnering with regional workforce groups and proposing what DWD describes as innovative, long-term solutions.
County Road 34 near Byron could soon be in line for a major reconstruction, as Olmsted County engineers begin planning a project aimed at improving safety and drainage. Olmsted County estimates more than 2,500 motorists travel County Road 34 each day. Over the last five years, the county said the road has seen about a dozen crashes, with road conditions and visibility listed among the top concerns. Final design plans and permitting are not expected to be submitted until 2027, with construction currently scheduled to begin in 2028.
The state’s Child Care Bridge Payments program for providers expires this week, and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association Executive Director Ruth Schmidt says families and policy makers will need to make decisions, with families have a more difficult time finding care for their pre-K children. Schmidt says the end of the bridge payment will exacerbate a shortage of qualified early childhood educators in Wisconsin. She believes state lawmakers ought to consider some sort of a public investment and acknowledge that the entire state relies on there being a healthy system of child care. The Bridge Payments program was established when the earlier Child Care Counts pandemic-era stabilization program was set to expire about a year ago but is now ending with nothing to replace it.
A contractor is chosen to replace a vital bridge linking Duluth and Superior. The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments last week announced a joint $930 million bid by Ames Construction and Kraemer North America was the apparent best-value to replace the Blatnik Bridge. Built in 1961, the Blatnick carries an average of 33,000 vehicles a day on I-535 and US Highway 53 across the St. Louis River. The states and Ames-Kraemer Joint Venture II now have up to 60 days before the contract is awarded. The project is estimated to be completed in six years with full closure of the bridge expected to begin early next year. A $1.06 billion federal grant is helping pay for the project. Wisconsin and Minnesota both have also earmarked $400 million.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear two lawsuits that seek to have the state’s congressional maps redrawn. Oral arguments are scheduled for September 16 for the justices to hear appeals. Plaintiffs have appealed to the Supreme Court after both cases were heard and rejected by three-judge panels last year, in a process allowed by a 2011 law passed by Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature. One case alleges the current maps discriminate against Democrats who hold just two of Wisconsin’s eight seats in the US House. The other claims district boundaries violate the state Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection. The court will have a 5-2 liberal majority in August when Justice Chris Taylor is sworn in. Rulings in favor of the plaintiffs could send the cases back to circuit court.
Appleton police are still defending the use of Flock Safety cameras even as the city continues to plan their removal. Police Chief Polly Olson says the company's automated license plate readers helped police solve a vandalism spree last week that damaged several local businesses. She calls it a "force multiplier" for the department that enhances officers' ability to solve crimes. Mayor Jake Woodford says that despite that, "concerns about the integrity of Flock's underlying system have eroded our trust." The city is expected to stop paying for the service and have the cameras removed in July.
Minnesota is one of four states accused of refusing to provide the federal government with data on SNAP applicants. The Department of Justice is also suing three other states that include Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The DOJ alleges that the USDA requested the last five years of SNAP applicant data from several states last year. After dozens honored the request, federal officials claimed the USDA requested the data again from the four states in May 2026. The Trump administration claims that SNAP is losing billions of dollars due to fraud, waste and abuse.
