News 10.18.17
18 October 2017 News
The long-delayed Highway 23 expansion project between Fond du Lac and Plymouth is getting back on track. A large crowd gathered at the UW-Fond du Lac last Thursday night to hear about the future plans. Officials are beginning work on a new environmental impact statement to restart the project, which was previously blocked by a lawsuit. Fond du Lac City Manager Joe Moore says it has been more than two years since litigation stalled the project. A public hearing on the document will be held next spring and it could be finalized by next summer. One-thousand Friends of Wisconsin fought previous efforts to rebuild a stretch of highway that was the scene of six deaths and 42 injury crashes between 2012 and 2016.
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The Fond du Lac County executive says there are a lot of unanswered questions regarding a plan unveiled last week that would merge the state’s two year colleges with its four year campuses in an effort to boost enrollment. Under the plan, UW Fond du Lac would become part of UW Oshkosh. County executive Al Buechel says he wants to know what the county’s role would be in the future when it comes to maintenance of the campus? The county has invested millions of dollars over the years renovating the campus, most recently building a new student housing facility. He says any future capital projects are on hold until that situation becomes more clear. Buechel says he’s been assured that at least immediately tuition at the two year schools will not change. Enrollment at UW Fond du Lac is down 34 percent since 2010. Buechel says his concern is the long term future of the Fond du Lac campus.
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The head of the state chamber of commerce says it may be time to do away with “America’s Dairyland” on Wisconsin license plates. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce President Kurt Bauer floated the idea at a luncheon Monday attended by hundreds of the state’s business leaders. Bauer says that other slogans like “Forward” might be more appropriate to modernize perceptions of the state’s economy, rather than just focusing on agriculture. “Forward” is the state’s official motto, while “America’s Dairyland” has graced vehicle license plates since 1940 to celebrate Wisconsin’s prominence in milk and cheese production. Bauer says a more contemporary phrase on the license plates could emphasize the state’s dynamic economy. He referenced plans by the Taiwanese company Foxconn Technology Group to locate a high-tech display screen factory in Racine County.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan says the biggest obstacle to passing a Republican-authored federal tax overhaul plan is the GOP-controlled Senate because of its narrow majority. But Ryan says he believes Congress will “nail the landing at the end of the year” and pass the $6 trillion tax overhaul package. Ryan made his comments at a meeting of the Wisconsin state chamber of commerce. The Wisconsin Republican says the tax overhaul is “better wired for success” than the failed health care proposal because Republicans in the Senate and House “more or less agree on this on how it should go.” He says, “We spent four months negotiating with the Senate and the White House” and he’s “bullish” it will get done this year.
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