It's Wayne Mauser, local news.
Good morning.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
A two-vehicle crash in the town of Wolf River left one passenger dead and sent both drivers to the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office said it responded at 12.29 p.m.
to the crash and county-trung double-eye and Riverview Drive along with Fremont Ambulance and the Fremont Wolf River Fire Department.
When first responders arrived, they found a deceased passenger in one of the vehicles.
The passenger's identity was being withheld pending notification of the family.
Both drivers were taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office.
The roadway was closed for about four hours for investigation and cleanup.
A 42-year-old Fond du Lac man was sentenced Tuesday in Fond du Lac County Court on a fentanyl trafficking charge.
Nathan Ziegler pled no contest and was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision which was stayed and he received four years of probation.
He must also serve six months of conditional jail time with credit for 145 days already served.
90 days of conditional jail time was also imposed and
In October of 2018, Ziggler was sentenced to eight years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision for his role in a $1 million heroin conspiracy ring.
He fled no contest to heroin conspiracy and trafficking in that case.
The latest charge stems from an incident last March.
Former Nina Public Work Superintendent Gregory Radke was fined $50 and paid $3,098 in restitution for stealing the proceeds from municipal metal recycling.
The 54-year-old Radke played a no-contest Tuesday to one count of theft of movable property.
According to the criminal complaint, employees realized that Radke had been directing his department to take scrap metal to Gibson Iron and Metal to get cash for it, and it did not appear that cash ever got to any legitimate fund at the
City of Nina.
One accounting determined the amount in question was $3,098.
Radke initially said the money was used for city purposes.
Wisconsin Public Service is requesting a rate increase.
WPS says the increase will allow the company to bury more power lines, trim more trees, and upgrade aging equipment.
The citizen's utility board says if approved, it would be six consecutive years, rates go up.
If approved, WPS would raise electric rates by about 9.7 percent.
next year, plus 4.3% the following year.
That's a total increase of about 14%.
That means for the average customer, they'll see an additional $11.19 beyond their monthly bill in 2027, plus another $5.43 in 2028.
Combine the two, and that's an extra $200 over the next two years.
Also, for the average customer, natural gas rates would go up by about 11% in 2027 and stay within 0.1% in 2028.
That's an extra $86 over the next two years.
Wisconsin's Public Service Commission gets five
approval on the request, although there's no official deadline, it says the hope is to make a decision by the end of this year.
If approved, WPS said the new rate would take effect in January.
The Ripon City Council Monday night approved the payment of bills for several ongoing improvement projects that included the Houston Street Reconstruction and the DPW Building Project.
A change order was also approved for the Hall Street and Tambert Avenue Road Improvement Project.
The change order is for Tambert Avenue at a cost of $118,434.90.
The council also approved an agreement with the state to replace the Pacific Street Bridge.
Ripon is receiving $1.6 million
who the state's local small structure improvement program, or 90% of the more than $1.7 million cost of replacing the bridge.
City Administrator Adam Sontag told the Council the design and engineering for the project will be accomplished next year.
The project won't be completed until 2028.
Sontag says the city is looking at doing an overall improvement of the street at that time.
In other news, there are options for the millions of Americans that suffer from atrial fibrillation
or AFIB, an irregular heartbeat condition.
Bob Nelson has the story for Civic Media News.
Kirsten Lompry is a nurse practitioner with SSM Health's Adele Michaels Heart and Vascular Care and Fond du Lac.
She says AFib is not all that uncommon.
More than 2 million Americans have atrial fibrillation.
It's the most common arrhythmia.
Usually everyone knows someone that has it.
Whether that's a family member, a neighbor, it's very common.
Kimberly Hornes, another nurse practitioner with Dale Michaels, says other than a sped-up heartbeat, AFib can cause other physical symptoms.
You might get dizziness, feel faint.
It could cause you to be more short of breath, even with minimal activity.
You might get...
more sweaty with activities, feel tired, weak.
Treatment could include a procedure that shocks the heart back into rhythm or a surgical procedure called ablation that could end the irregular heartbeat.
There are also medications, including blood thinners, that reduce the risk of stroke for those who have AFib.
I'm Pop Nelson for Civic Media News.
Rippin High School on Monday announced Rob Neal, a member of the Rippin High School class of 1987, as a recipient of the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award.
From performing on the Rippin High School stage to Broadway, Rob Neal has spent much of his life making theater and perhaps more importantly, helping other people tell stories.
Rob was involved in theater all four years he was in high school.
He also lettered in tennis and
With strong ties to Rippon, Rob has returned often.
After graduating from Grinnell College with a major in philosophy and a minor in Russian studies, Rob studied acting at O'Neill and Lambda.
He eventually made his way to New York City, where he was a founding member of the New York Neo Futurists.
Over the next 30 years, he helped build the non-profit experimental theater company into an internationally recognized award-winning ensemble.
As a performer, writer, producer,
and eventually artistic director, he helped create and produce hundreds of original plays and thousands of performances.
You can read more about Rob's accomplishments at the Ripon Area School District's website.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
For Civic Media News, I'm Connie Feldman.
If you loved sitting around a campfire this time of year, the DNR has an important reminder about firewood.
Civic Media's Maddie Schaefer tells us how you can help protect the woods at the cabin or the campground.
If you're heading out camping this fall, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is reminding people to be careful about bringing firewood along.
October is National Firewood Month, and the DNR says moving untreated firewood can also move invasive insects and diseases that can damage or kill trees.
Pest can hide on or inside firewood and emerge after its move somewhere new.
That includes spongy moths, emerald ash borers, and the fungus that causes oak wilt.
The DNR is asking campers to buy local, burn local, buy firewood at or near where you're staying and leave any unused wood behind instead of bringing it home.
Wisconsin State Parks and other state-managed lands generally don't allow firewood brought in for more than 10 miles away.
The exception is wood that's been certified as treated by the State Department
of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection.
The DNR says all staff state parks and forests with campgrounds offer local firewood for sale.
For Civic Media News, I'm Maddie Schaefer.
If you're looking
for a place to buy local firewood, you can find a list of approved vendors at firewoodscout.org.
As we reach the end of Suicide Awareness Month in September, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announces new and expanded partnerships to help reduce suicide deaths across the state.
In addition to extending its four-year collaboration with Aspirus Health, DHS has entered into a new partnership with Calm America, a group focused on safe storage of firearms and dangerous medications.
Health workers say together these groups will help provide health care workers, mental health professionals, and local communities with vital resources and training to save lives.
With a national spotlight focused on an alleged sexual assault at a Cornell fraternity, UW Madison officials are reporting two suspected druggings and sexual assaults linked to off-campus fraternity houses.
Authorities say one victim reported being drugged and fondled at two different Greek life properties over the weekend, prompting a referral to
Madison police.
A second reported incident involved a victim who said they were drugged at a fraternity house earlier this month before being sexually assaulted in a campus residence hall.
University leaders reiterate that sexual violence and exploitation are strictly prohibited and violate both state law and campus policies.
The Appleton Area School District has approved plans to borrow a total of $35 million.
The district says they are opening a line of credit with the city for $20 million and borrowing another $15 million in the meantime.
The money will help the district get by until it receives its state funding, which usually comes between six to eight months into the school year.
District leaders say they don't have enough cash reserves for mid-year operational costs, such as payroll.
They plan to repay the money before the end of the fiscal year.
If you're looking forward to watching the oldest rivalry in the NFL at Lambeau Field on October 11th, you'll need to move your plans up by a couple hours.
The NFL announced yesterday the Packers-Bears game has been moved to a noon kickoff time.
It was originally set to start at 3.25 central time.
The last of four kangaroos that escaped along I-39 near Portage last month
may have been hit by a semi.
Columbia County Sheriff's deputies say a driver called to report seeing a semi hit a kangaroo yesterday afternoon.
Deputies searched the surrounding area but didn't find the animal.
A local online search group posted that someone did find the kangaroo deceased.
This is the third of the four kangaroos reportedly hit and killed after escaping a trailer during a transport transfer.
Authorities say the fourth was found the same day and returned to its owners.
And that's your state news update.
I'm Connie Feldman
for Civic Media News.
A setback for the Badgers.
High on Mike Clemens with sports, college football, Wisconsin flying high after that win over Penn State.
But head coach Luke Fickle says defensive back Cal Bates.
A transfer from Florida State is out for the year with a torn ACL.
I'm not going to dwell upon it.
Injuries happen, things happen.
It's all about continuing to develop the guys that you got.
You know, that back ends got some multiple people that can play some different positions if we get into situations we need.
The Badgers host the Michigan State Spartans Saturday morning at 11 30.
Baseball, the Brewers holding a workout session.
Will Jacob Mizorowski and Logan Henderson start games one and two of the playoffs this weekend?
Pat Murphy.
I mean, I think
that pretty much everyone realizes that we're going to go with Miz and Henderson predominantly in the, you know, is the obvious there are two top starters right now.
So probably be the way we go.
I mean, subject
to change.
You never know how things go.
Meanwhile, the Cubs lost to the Padres in San Diego 8 to nothing in game one of the wild card best of three series with sports on Mike Clemens.
Cloudy with scattered showers today are high in the upper 60s to low 70s this afternoon.
Scattered showers will kind of dwindle off here by later this afternoon.
Tonight, Cloudy scattered showers upper 50s to low 60s.
Tomorrow, mostly Cloudy scattered showers with highs in the upper 60s.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
Local interviews, podcasts and more are always fresh and always on file at thebug.fm.