1/25/22 Hometown Broadcasting News Tuesday
25 January 2022 News
Judge Lifts ThedaCare Injunction
An Outagamie County judge Monday lifted an injunction allowing seven members of ThedaCare’s stroke care team to take jobs with Ascension Wisconsin. Judge Mark McGinnis said based on testimony and exhibits ThedaCare did not satisfy its burden that it will likely suffer irreparable harm without an injunction. Seven of the stroke care team’s 11 members accepted work at St. Elizabeth Hospital. The judge heard from both sides during hours of testimony including the employees switching jobs. One of them told the judge changing jobs was not just about money but a better quality of life, not being on-call as often working at St. Elizabeth, and feeling appreciated for their work. Employees said they tried to negotiate, and a meeting was held in late December. ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah president and ThedaCare South Region senior vice president Lynn Detterman said in a statement, “Our goal was always to create a short-term orderly transition, not to force team members to continue working at ThedaCare.”
Close Call For State Trooper
A Wisconsin State Trooper had a close call on Interstate-39/90/94 in Columbia County near Poynette Sunday morning. The trooper suffered non-life threatening injuries after a passing motorist hit the trooper’s cruiser from behind. Just before 11 a.m. the trooper was inside his cruiser conducting a traffic stop near mile maker 116, which is south of County CS, when an approaching Honda Pilot lost control and struck the cruiser. The driver of the Honda was not injured. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the accident.
OASD Facial Covering Requirement Extended
In response to the ongoing local increase in COVID-19 cases, the Oshkosh Area School District has extended its face covering requirement for all students, staff, and visitors through February 25th. The District also reduced its student isolation and quarantine from 10 days to five days in certain situations. District Superintendent Bryan Davis says, “These decisions were made with the understanding that we want students to be able to return to school as soon as possible, as long as they are healthy enough to do so, and that our extended face covering requirement provides additional protection that supports an earlier return at this time.”
Markesan School District Referendum
Markesan School District voters in April will be asked to approve a school spending referendum that would allow the district to exceed state revenue caps. Specifically the district is seeking permission to exceed revenue limits by $950,000 annually for four straight years beginning with the 2022-23 academic year. According to a district press release district voters in 2018 approved an operating referendum that allowed the district to exceed revenue limits by $1,095,000 annually through the current school year. The new referendum would run through 2025-2026 with the lower amount of $950,000. If approved under the new referendum it is projected Markesan’s annual school district property tax rate would decrease the first year to $7.09 per $100,000 of value on a property, increase the second year to $7.28 and to $7.67 the third year, before falling to $7.35 in the fourth year. When voters approved the referendum in 2018 the school district tax rate was $10.27.
COVID Treatment Pills
The Administrator for Ambulatory Operations for hospitals in Fond du Lac, Ripon and Waupun says two new pill forms of COVID-19 treatment are becoming available, but not yet in hospitals. Missy Tate of SSM Health says those pills will be available at select pharmacies first. She says they hope as manufacturing ramps up those pills they will become more widely available including to hospitals. Currently the state is administering those pills to retail pharmacies. The CDC has a link on their website that talks about where those retail pharmacies are located. She’s hoping there will be more clarity next month on when the pills will become available to hospitals and clinics.
Name Change Bill
State Senator Joan Ballweg is backing a bill that would allow the spouse of a person convicted of a heinous crime to change the last names of minor children to protect those children from public perception and scrutiny. The state lawmaker from Markesan says in a Western Wisconsin case a school administrator was convicted of child pornography possession. His wife divorced him and wanted to change the names of their children to protect them but learned he had to sign off on that. Ballweg says the bill would allow the name changes without the sign off if good cause can be shown such as murder, sexual assault or other heinous crimes. The bill will be introduced during the Senate’s session which begins today.
Candidate Forum For Ripon Common Council Seat
The League of Women Voters of the Ripon Area will be hosting a Candidate Forum for all three candidates for District 4 of the Ripon Common Council on Thursday February 3rd at 7 pm in the Ripon City Hall Council Chambers. The public is invited to submit questions to Cal Edwards via email (calvin.4edward@gmail.com) or mail them to LWV of the Ripon Area, P.O. Box 5, Ripon Wisconsin 54971. The event will be broadcast live on channel 986 on the Spectrum Cable TV service and YouTube.com/ripon. It will also be taped for the Ripon Cable channel. During the primary election on February 15th voters will be asked to reduce the field of candidates for the District 4 seat to two for the spring election in April. Two of the three candidates Mike Boscaljon and Doug Iverson will be participating in the forum.
You Got Your COVID Shot Hey
In Quebec, Canada earlier this month health officials implemented a policy that prohibited residents from purchasing alcohol or medical marijuana if they had not been vaccinated for COVID-19. Jeff Puhlmann-Becker of the Ripon Community COVID-19 Task Force says it was kind of the opposite of the incentives offered in the United States when the vaccines were first being offered which ranged from lotteries to a shot for free beer promotions. He says the prohibition in Quebec had an impact. Appointments for the first dose of vaccine quadrupled from 1,500 to 6,000. An official with Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services says they are aware that all of the sacrifices asked of residents are not easy, but they were necessary.
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