It's Wayne Mauser, local news.
Good morning.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
The 83-year-old Marathon County man suspected of the 1995 murder of James Jim Ruland made his initial appearance in Fond du Lac County Court Monday morning.
Jerome P. Beyer is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and his bond was set at $1 million cash.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday, October 1st.
A status hearing will be held the day before that to make sure Bayer has obtained counsel.
Bayer was Ruhlin's roommate at the time of Ruhlin's disappearance in October of 1995.
They lived in a farmhouse on Cork Street Road in the town of Ripon.
According to the criminal complaint, Bayer told investigators Ruhlin had stolen $1,200 and owed him money for rent, phone and other bills.
But financial records showed Ruhlin was up to date on his
bills and child support.
A check showed Rulund's mother sent him for $2,500 by her side as Rulund and deposited into his own account.
He was prosecuted for that theft and the theft of another small check sent to Rulund.
Rulund was in the process of moving into another residence in Kiel when he disappeared.
According to the criminal complaint, cadaver canines were used twice to sniff for human remains on the farmhouse property.
Both alerted on the presence of human remains, but none were found.
has never been found.
Horecon police say three of their four flock license plate reader cameras were stolen or vandalized early on the morning of September 20th.
Horecon police chief Aaron Birkin says, quote, regardless of your feelings about flock cameras, theft and criminal damage to property will never be condoned, unquote.
He added, quote, to the person or person's responsible, you may disagree with the cameras, but apparently the other cameras in the area have a pretty good memory, unquote.
The incident remains under investigation.
Oshkosh police tell us a 72 year old sex offender will be released from prison and will be living in the city starting September 29th.
Ricky Cornell has no permanent address lined up yet and will be homeless.
He'll be on electronic monitoring and will be on probation until October 4th of 2033.
Cornell has been convicted multiple times beginning with a conviction for lewd and lascivious behavior in 1974.
In 1987 he was convicted of sexual assault of a child first degree.
in Brown County and in 2013 in Winnebago County, a first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.
His victims were six and nine-year-old girls that he knew.
The 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard is conducting evening training flights through Thursday.
During this time, area residents may see or hear F-35 aircraft in flight until approximately 9.30 p.m.
Training flights normally take place during daylight hours, but pilots
and maintenance personnel are required to conduct nighttime operations as part of their overall readiness.
Pilots will continue to follow flight paths designed to minimize noise to area residents.
With fall officially beginning today, residents may see bad activity around their homes wind down.
Bob Nelson has the story for Civic Media News.
Underlag County Public Health Officer Kim Miller says you should never handle a bat with your bare hands because you run the risk of being bitten and contracting rabies.
She says bat bites are so tiny you may not realize you've been
bitten.
Bites are very difficult to see.
Their teeth are super tiny, but that is how a tiny little scratch...
tiny little bite is that opportunity for rabies to hop into your body.
Gina Gizzi, Frosetto of Fond du Lac is perhaps the most famous rabies survivor and cured with a medically induced coma and chemical cocktail after she was bitten by a bat at the age of 15 in 2004.
Miller says the health department can help anyone that may have been bitten by a bat navigate through possible vaccinations and whether the bat needs to be tested.
I'm Bob Nelson for Civic Media News.
Inmates at the Red Granite Correctional Institution are raising monarch butterflies and following their paths as they migrate from the facility to Mexico.
The Refuge for Growth, Change and Inspiration Monarch Program was launched in 2025.
It includes a dedicated monarch butterfly habitat enclosure, pollinator gardens throughout the institution's property, and tagged butterflies that will fly thousands of miles to their over
habitat in Mexico.
The prison's recreation leader, Kerry Yankee, started the program last year after exploring options to add to its list of programs that appeal to the less active population at the institution, including bird watching, card making, flower arrangements, and chair yoga programs.
Twenty inmates participate in the program, which is held once a year from June to September.
Participants are divided into groups of five, and each group is assigned a day of the week to
care for the butterflies.
Yankee provides videos and other additional learning to participants every Wednesday.
I'm Wayne Bowser for Civic Media News.
For Civic Media News, I'm Connie Thelman.
We're all feeling the pain at the pump right now, just filling up our cars.
But the record-breaking diesel prices are hitting Wisconsin farmers with a double dose of high costs.
Not only is it costing farmers more to produce the food for our tables, now, as the Journal Sentinel reports, transport companies are adding new surcharges to move harvests.
Some farmers say their usual transport rates have nearly doubled just as the diesel price has.
Unlike other industries, farmers don't have the option of adjusting their selling price around cost increases.
Local farmers explain their only way to make ends meet is by making cuts.
impacting their farms' future.
As of September 18, Wisconsin has broken its all-time diesel price record every day for seven days in a row.
Yesterday's record diesel price of $6.57 for our state's average continues that trend.
The White House is giving a nod to Wisconsin growers.
Silent Night Evergreens in Central Wisconsin will be providing the official Christmas tree for the White House this year.
The Endeavour Tree Farm welcomed the White House superintendent of Groundsdale, Haney, yesterday morning, who came to select the tree.
Haney says the perfect tree needs to be the right height.
and full all the way around.
Silent Night Evergreens is the 2026 winner of the National Christmas Tree Association's nationwide contest.
The tree selected is a 30-foot tall con-color fur.
It'll be trimmed down and displayed in the blue room for more than 100,000 White House visitors to enjoy this Christmas season.
Don't be alarmed if you hear fighter jets in the sky overnight this week.
The 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard is holding training sessions.
While most exercises take place during the day, pilots and maintenance crews are required to complete night flights to maintain overall readiness.
Flight paths have been designed to minimize noise and disruptions, though local residents may still hear F-35 fighter jets overhead during training hours.
Gas analysts say prices in the Great Lakes area are surging faster than anywhere else in the nation right now.
Civic media's Melissa Kay tells us why.
Average gas prices rose 34.2 cents over the last week, the state average at 4.43 on Monday.
This is 49.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and $1.55 higher than this time last year.
Officials at GasBuddy say gasoline prices rose in virtually every state over the past week.
the Great Lakes region experiencing refinery issues, which drove prices up even further.
The national average price of diesel jumped 30.7 cents for an average of $6.49 across the country.
Patrick Dahan is head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
He said continued strikes on Russian oil refineries tightened global diesel supply, driving diesel prices up in every state.
The refinery issues in the Great Lakes region amplified pressure on diesel prices locally.
GasBuddy officials say any broad directional change in prices will depend heavily on overseas developments.
New attacks and escalations make the outlook deeply uncertain.
For Civic Media News, I'm Melissa Kay.
But there is relief in sight.
Dahan says with the refinery now coming back online, wholesale gas prices should drop significantly.
That means our price at the pump should also come down in a few days.
Brewers baseball tonight.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with sports the Brewers in Philadelphia against the Phillies a team They could face later in the playoffs right-hander Dustin May gets the start and was asked What was it like when he was told the Cardinals had just traded him to Milwaukee?
I was stoked
I mean, being able to come to a team that's leading the division by a lot, very good ball club and got a really good chance to go to the playoffs and make a run.
I'm very, very thrilled to be a part of it.
NFL, the Packers relieved to have beaten the Jets on Sunday.
Green Bay had not won a game since December 7th when they beat the Bears at Lambeau Field, safety Evan Williams.
We put so much into this.
This is our whole life showing up every day trying to be the best version of yourself for it to not, you know, go the way we want it consistently is, yeah, it sucks.
You don't come here to lose games.
It's going to be a competitive league.
Every game is going to be competitive when we have to understand that.
But to end up on the right side of things is definitely what we're looking forward to keep doing.
The Packers host the Falcons this Thursday night kickoff at 7 15 with sports.
I'm Mike Clemens.
It is going to be partly to mostly cloudy today with a high in the low 60s this afternoon tonight.
Partly cloudy with a low dropping into the upper 40s to low 50s tomorrow.
Mostly sunny with a high in the low to mid 60s.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
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