News 04.19.17
19 April 2017 News
A spring tradition is underway in northeastern Wisconsin as the sturgeon spawning has started on parts of the Wolf River. The giant prehistoric fish spend most of their time in the Lake Winnebago System, but during the run, they’re are easy to spot at locations on the Wolf and Embarrass rivers. Ryan Koenigs, a sturgeon biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, says the sturgeon usually start to spawn in warmer weather as the water temperature increases. He says crews netted and tagged about 200 fish Monday, including one as large as 78 inches in Shiocton. Hundreds of people lined the shoreline at Bamboo Bend in Shiocton on Monday. Matt Reinke says it was exciting to take his 7-year-old son, Mason, to see the fish.
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Fond du Lac County officials are exploring their options on repairing the trail system through one of the county’s most popular parks. County Parks director Sam Tobias says years of soil erosion has taken its toll on Hobbs Woods, located a few miles south of Fond du Lac. Tobias admits that maintenance has not kept up with the growing number of people using the park. The UW extension-agriculture committee discussed the issue at their meeting earlier this month. Fond du Lac County executive Al Buechel says one potential option is building a raised board walk through portions of the park adjacent to the creek.
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Kick off events are being held this week in Dodge County, the first Wisconsin community to be named a Blue Zone Project demonstration site. Janelle Wiebelhaus-Finger with the Blue Zones Project in Dodge County says its an innovative effort to make a significant, sustainable impact on community well-being. She says the first project was started in Albert Lea, Minnesota in 2009. In cooperation with Beaver Dam Community Hospital, a series of kick-off events will be held starting this week in Mayville, Juneau, Horicon and Beaver Dam. Wiebelhaus-Finger says the project focuses on nine habits shared by the world’s longest living people. She says the project is designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to environment, policy and social networks.
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The governors of Wisconsin and New York are urging President Donald Trump to address what they are calling Canada’s “blatant violation of international trade agreements” hurting dairy farmers in the two states. Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent Trump the letter on Tuesday. Canada has decided to impose import taxes on ultra-filtered milk, a protein liquid concentrate used to make cheese. It had been duty free but Canada changed course after milk producers there complained. About 70 dairy producers in both Wisconsin and New York are affected. The governors say Canada’s actions could cost the U.S. economy hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Prosecutors say the man accused of stealing a cache of weapons from a Janesville store and sending a threatening manifesto to the White House left a fake bomb at a gas station to distract police from the gun shop burglary. Rock County District Attorney Rich Sullivan says Joseph Jakubowski left the fake bomb at a south side Janesville gas station just before committing the burglary on April 4. Sullivan says a station clerk found the device and threw it out, believing it was a prank. Jakubowski was on the run until last Friday when he was found camping in a Vernon County farm field. Five of 18 weapons taken from Armageddon Supplies were found at the campsite. Sheriff Robert Spoden says the 13 missing weapons have not been found. Jakubowski is being held on $30,000 cash bond.
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Construction of a long-debated streetcar track is underway in Milwaukee. Welding has begun, and workers will soon start digging trenches for the tracks. The two-and-a-half-mile project has been divisive from the beginning because of its approximately $128 million cost. More than half the money is coming from the federal government. Five companies have submitted proposals to operate the streetcar so far. A decision isn’t expected for several months. City engineer Jeff Polenske says the streetcar team is working closely with downtown businesses to stay ahead of any sort of potential problems. Milwaukee Public Market spokesman Paul Schwartz says he’s not concerned because the market’s overall sales grew during construction on a nearby freeway.
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