News 06.21.17
21 June 2017 News
A federal appellate panel dismisses state officials’ efforts to obtain federal funding to expand a highway between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan. Wisconsin officials have been trying to secure federal funding to widen a 19-mile stretch of State Highway 23. The project was estimated to cost about $168 million as of early 2015. A group called 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin that works for sustainable land use filed a lawsuit in 2011 to stop the project. The group argued a federal environmental impact statement was incomplete and without it the federal government couldn’t release any money. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman agreed. The state appealed but federal officials didn’t. A three-judge panel from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that no federal appeal forecloses any other challenge.
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The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says thousands of fish have died in Beaver Dam as a result of a culvert project. Officials lowered the water level in the Beaver Dam River last week so construction work could be done near the river. Beaver Dam Mayor Becky Glewen says the city followed DNR protocol by shutting water levels to the minimum level, but did not predict the impact on fish. Up to 5,000 fish died. DNR officials met with the city’s utility director Monday to discuss what happened and to prevent it from happening again. Both the city and the contractor have a permit for the project, and have agreed to follow the DNR’s recommendations to try to prevent another fish kill.
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A Wisconsin state park cancels its summer bat watch program due to a fungal disease decimating the park’s bat population. A disease known as white-nose syndrome has spread among the brown bat population in Devil’s Lake State Park. The disease causes white fungus to form on the muzzle, wings, ears and other parts of infected bats. Park naturalist Sue Johansen says in one year the brown bat population has dropped from 200 bats to fewer than 20. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation biologist Paul White says the disease first turned up at a site in Grant County. It’s since spread to more than 60 areas across the state. White says there’s no known cure for the syndrome.
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Ashley Furniture in Arcadia breaks ground on a new distribution center that executives say will help it compete with online retailers. Gov. Scott Walker and other dignitaries were on hand for a ceremony Monday kicking off construction of the 500,000-square-foot facility. Ashley Furniture founder Ron Wanek says the expansion comes at a time when the marketplace is changing. Wanek says warehouse space is needed to meet the demands of customers who want their purchases right away, not in two or three weeks. Ashley Furniture says it employs 4,700 jobs people in west central Wisconsin. The warehouse should be completed in nine months.
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The elderly golf fan who died while attending the U.S. Open in Wisconsin had lost his wife of 68 years earlier in the week. Ninety-four-year-old Marshall “Chick” Jacobs died Friday in the arms of his son, Bill, after becoming unresponsive at the 6th green. Just three days earlier, Lucille Jacobs, died after experiencing complications from a broken hip. Bill Jacobs recalled that when his father made plans to go to the tournament when it was awarded to Erin Hills in 2010, he remarked that he hoped he would still be alive to attend. Jacobs says he and his dad spent “three hours of bliss” Friday watching the game’s greatest players. Family members say the two loved golf and traveled the country playing in couples’ leagues. A joint funeral is planned for Friday.
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