Hometown Broadcasting News Thursday 5/27/21
27 May 2021 News
Different Spin On COVID This Memorial Day Weekend
Ripon Community COVID-19 Task Force member Jeff Puhlmann-Becker says we are heading into the Memorial Day Weekend on much more positive note than we did last year at this time. He says while the infection rate was on the rise last year at this time, it is on the decline heading into this weekend. “I’m looking at the infection rate and we are at the lowest rate right now than we’ve been such June of last year so nearly 11 months was the last time we were as quote-unquote healthy as we are right now when it comes to COVID.” He says we didn’t know last year what we would be going through, but now we know we are headed for better times. More than 50 percent of adults in the country are completely vaccinated against the virus and 61 percent have received at least one shot of the vaccine.
Federal Funding Helps Fill COVID Learning Gaps
Ripon Schools Superintendent Mary Whitrock says additional federal COVID relief funding will help them build a solid pupil service team to help students affected by the pandemic. She says over the next two years they will receive about $1 million a year in federal funding, perhaps less depending on the state allocation. “It came in three batches and when you take the total of those dollars what it means for Ripon is about $1 million additional dollars over each of the next two years.” She says that will help them fund some additional staffing with goals of smaller class sizes for students who need more individual help due to learning gaps created by the pandemic. Help will also be hired to address social/emotional issues of students also due to the health crisis.
Visa Students Need Clearing For Employment In The Dells And Door County
State Representative Alex Dallman says he and State Senator Joan Ballweg are trying to do something about getting J-1 visa students cleared to work in our country. The state lawmaker from Green Lake says a number of tourism related businesses in the Wisconsin Dells and Door County depend on employing those students over the summer months. “I’m trying to make it more known that especially once again going back to unemployment we hear from the Wisconsin Dells a lot that we’re not getting J-1 visa students here into our country right now due to COVID.” Dallman says the Biden Administration is either unable to open embassies overseas because of COVID or because they have not gotten around to it yet to issue the visas.
Search Warrants Executed In Waupun Drug Investigations
The Waupun Police Department executed two search warrants in drug investigations at the beginning of the week. The first was late Monday evening in the 200 block of Fond du Lac Street. They were assisting the Columbia and Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Offices. Deputy Chief Jeremy Rasch says Columbia County had previously arrested a man living at the residence for possession of methamphetamine. The second warrant was executed Tuesday morning at a residence in the 200 block of North Mill Street. As a result a 46-year-old Waupun man was arrested for possession of controlled substances, drug paraphernalia and on a probation warrant. A 38-year-old Waupun woman was arrested for possession of controlled substances and drug paraphernalia. Both were taken to the Fond du Lac County Jail.
Unemployment Rates Improve In April
Unemployment rates improved in the area last month. According to Federal labor statistics most counties saw their unemployment rates improve from a half percent to more than one-and-a-half percent from the end of March to the end of April. Fond du Lac County’s jobless rate fell to 3.4 percent, Dodge and Winnebago counties’ to 3.5 percent, Waupaca County rate was 4.1 percent, and Green Lake County’s was 4.4 percent. Waushara County had the sharpest decline from 6.1 percent in March to 4.5 percent in April and Marquette County’s rate was 4.9 percent. As for area cities Oshkosh had a 3.6 percent jobless rate for the month and Fond du Lac 3.9 percent.
Air America Act On Its Way To House Floor
The bipartisan Air America Act authored by Congressman Glenn Grothman unanimously passed the House Committee on Oversight and Reform this week. The next step for the bill is a vote on the House floor. Grothman introduced the Air American Act this past February, which now has over 100 bipartisan cosponsors. The bill will correct an inequity suffered by Americans who are former employees of Air America by ensuring they receive the federal retirement benefits and recognition they have earned. Oshkosh resident Neil Hansen and the Air America Association pointed out the injustice to Congressman Grothman. A companion version in the U.S. Senate has 31 cosponsors.
Hazardous Waste Chemical Sweep
Fond du Lac County’s Land and Water Conservation Department will hold a Clean Sweep collection of hazardous chemical waste on Saturday, August 7th. The collection is for household and agricultural chemical waste. It is open to all county residents, farms, school districts, and small businesses. The collection will be at the Highway Department at 1820 South Hickory Street in Fond du Lac from 9 am until noon that day. More details are available at the Land and Water Department’s Hazardous Waste/Clean Sweep page.
Hazardous Waste Clean Sweep | Fond du Lac County (wi.gov)
Engle Collection Opening At EAA Aviation Museum
The personal archives and memorabilia of astronaut Joe Engle, the only person to participate in the X-15, Apollo, and Space Shuttle program, will go on display at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh on June 4th. Joe and Jeanie Engle donated the collection to the EAA Aviation Foundation in 2020. The Engles will participate in a brief dedication and ribbon cutting for the display, located adjacent to the Borman Collection on the museum’s main level that honors Gemini and Apollo astronaut Frank Borman. Joe Engle is a member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, having been inducted into both in 2001.
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