It's Wayne Mauser, Local News.
Good morning, I'm Wayne Malzer for Civic Media News.
President Trump on Social Truth Wednesday posted he'll be approving $17.9 million for the severe storms and tornadoes that Wisconsin experienced this summer.
In August, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers formally requested a federal disaster declaration from President Trump in the wake of severe storms and a tornado that swept through the state in July.
The July 27th storms produced an EF-3 tornado in the Monash and Appleton areas.
High winds, hail, and power outages caused widespread damage across forests, out-of-gain me, vialas, and Winnebago counties, also disrupting local public water systems.
According to the Governor's Office, joint assessments in August by Wisconsin Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency found nearly $13.8 million in public infrastructure damage.
Assessments of more than 2,340 homes revealed another $8.2 million in residential damage.
damage.
A five-day jury trial has been scheduled in Washera County Court next February for the 37-year-old Wild Rose Man who fled to Utah after stabbing and killing his grandmother.
Because when Randy Jenks was arraigned, he pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, the trial would go through two phases.
The jury would first determine whether Jenks was guilty of the crime, then they would have to determine if he knew the difference between whether it was right or wrong.
If he knew it was wrong, he would be sent
to prison.
If due to mental disease, and he did not know the difference, he would be committed to a mental health facility.
The trial is scheduled to begin February 1st with a status conference scheduled for October 27th.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a Montmore's home to do a welfare check on a 75-year-old woman.
They found Patricia May Glenn lying on the floor with dry blood around her.
Relatives told police, Jenks confessed to the murder.
According to the complaint, a relative told investigators,
Drinks had said his grandmother had, quote, pushed him too far, unquote.
Drinks had been living in his grandmother's home for more than a year.
He fled to Ogden, Utah, where he has relatives.
He was arrested there on March 8th, a day after his grandmother was found deceased.
For Rick James, returning to the Rippon area fire district as its new chief, is a full circle move.
Bob Nelson has more for Civic Media News.
James was born and raised in Hawaii and has over 30 years of experience in the firefighting field.
He always wanted to be a firefighter and got his first opportunity with the Ripon area fire district when he was going to Ripon College.
I honestly believe that if the Rippin Fire Department, the Rippin community hadn't given me the opportunity, I wouldn't be sitting here with you today.
I don't know that the other opportunities I've been afforded in my career would have been present had I not had that entry into the fire service.
His job in Rippin is part-time 20 hours a week.
He is a full-time battalion chief with the Appleton Fire Department.
The Rippin area fire district has undergone some reorganization and recently got a new fire
engine.
of firefighters that specified the rig and got it built and delivered, did an incredible job.
It's an incredible piece of equipment.
James says the new fire engine has already been to the scene of one fire and several car accidents.
I'm Pop Nelson reporting for Civic Media News.
51 members of the Ripon community participated in strategic planning for the Ripon Area School District last month.
District Superintendent Ron Revard said that included residents, business owners, board members, students, staff,
administrators who came together to revisit and re-ground their strategic planning.
He said this month they'll present to the school board for their consideration the district's revised mission statement which had only a slight adjustment.
He says the next step for the district in the strategic planning process will be to create some strategic objectives.
He said the feedback from the team that participated in the strategic planning was that they want to have measurable metrics to guide their work and celebrate their progress.
along the way.
Young professionals of Fond du Lac, a program of Envision Greater Fond du Lac, is accepting nominations for the 2026 Future Five Awards.
Nominations are open through Friday, October 30th, and community members are encouraged to submit their nominations before the deadline.
The Future Five Award was established in 2013 to support and recognize upcoming leaders in the community.
This award is presented to five area young professionals aged 21 to 40 who are presently growing and excelling in their respective fields.
To be eligible, nominees must live and or work in Fond du Lac County, be between 21 and 40 years old as of October 30th, and be nominated by a professional or volunteer reference.
Be growing and excelling in their field and not have received a future five award in the past three years is also a must.
Candidates must be nominated by someone they have worked for, volunteered or served with.
Nominators can submit the completed nomination form to Envision by Friday, October 30th.
Nomination forms are available through Envision.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
For Civic Media News, I'm Connie Feldman.
Democratic candidate for Governor David Crowley is proposing a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights in Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee County executive says the measure would safeguard reproductive freedom, though it's unclear if it would undo the state's current 20-week limit.
His Republican opponent, Congressman Tom Tiffany, called the proposal extreme and pledged to maintain current state laws.
Passing an amendment would ultimately require approval from two consecutive sessions of the legislature and a statewide vote.
In the clearest sign yet that the National Party is treating Wisconsin's governorship as a marquee race, national reinforcements are starting to come in.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a 2028 presidential prospect, campaigns with David Crowley this week in Racine, Kenosha, Beloit, and Milwaukee.
Crowley also leaned on Governor Tony Evers' endorsement, calling him his secret weapon.
Donald Trump remains the most prominent national figurebacking Tom Tiffany's campaign, having officially endorsed him in January of 2026, though no word yet on whether the president will make an appearance to back the Wisconsin Republican.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is warning residents about a new scam targeting drivers.
Officials say scammers are making calls and leaving voicemails claiming people have unpaid traffic citations that require immediate attention.
The message includes a fake link directing victims to make a payment for the supposed violation, transportation officials stress that the notices are fraudulent and should not be trusted.
Anyone who receives one of these messages is urged not to click the link or provide personal information.
The coolest things made in Wisconsin contest has narrowed the field down to eight local products vying for the title.
The field spans a diverse array of cool products from an electric rope shovel made in Milwaukee, custom pool cues from Nakusa, and handcrafted chocolate bars from Depeer.
Voting starts today and runs through Tuesday, October 13th.
The winner will be announced at the end of the month.
Record-breaking diesel fuel costs at the critical harvest time is just one toll tariffs have taken on Wisconsin farmers.
Civic media's James Kelly takes us to western Wisconsin for a farm rally.
A number of Chippewa Valley residents gathered at a local farm in Eau Claire on Monday morning to highlight the struggles farmers across the state are facing ahead of the November election.
The event specifically noted the cost of diesel fuel topping $6 a gallon for the first time ever as farmers enter the harvest season, the time of the year when they're using the most fuel on average.
George Paulzine, a fourth generation farmer in the region, summed up how much of an impact those additional costs are causing for the average farm.
The additional cost is between $45,000 and $60,000 a year on the average farm in Wisconsin.
That's just got to be eaten.
And Bryson Meltz didn't go up.
It's $45,000.
There's not too many people that work out in the business world that can take a $45,000 hit and pay.
Paulzine also highlighted the long-term struggles the agricultural industry will face as it works to rebuild export relationships that have been broken.
A lot of people in the dairy industry and in the marketing ends of things that have spent their entire career developing these industry markets and world markets and we live in a global market.
I don't care what anybody says.
We cannot isolate ourselves and to rebuild and fix what has been broken.
and will take some time.
I'm James Kelly for Civic Media News.
The rally was organized by Chippewa Valley Indivisible.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is warning residents about a new scam targeting drivers.
Officials say scammers are making calls and leaving voicemails claiming people have unpaid traffic citations that require immediate attention.
The message includes a fake link directing victims to make a payment for the supposed violation.
Anyone who receives one of these messages is urged not to click the link or provide personal information.
And that's your state news update.
I'm Connie Feldman for Civic Media News.
The Brewers win in San Diego.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports Baseball.
The Brewers held on to beat the Padres 3-1 to advance to the National League Championship Series.
But once again, they'll face the defending champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Brewers Christian Yelich.
I mean, they're obviously a great team, you know, back-to-back champs, but we're a great team too.
And, you know, we're going to grind.
We're going to play really hard and we're going to try and make it difficult on them.
And I got faith in the guys.
The guys got faith in each other.
And, you know, we're looking forward to a great series and, you know, a little bit of a
What's
going to be the difference this time?
Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
We're going in to beat him.
We earned it in the regular season to get the home field advantage and we're going to beat him.
We don't care who they have or whatever.
We're going to play good baseball and see what happens.
So the series begins Sunday night at Ampham Field first pitch 7pm.
NFL the Packers host the Bears on Sunday a game originally scheduled for 325 is now a noon start that changed made a few weeks ago But now Wisconsin will be able to watch both games on Sunday with sports on Mike Clemens
It is going to be mostly sunny today with a high in the mid 60s this afternoon Tonight partly to mostly cloudy.
We're gonna drop down into the upper 30s to low 40s tomorrow Mostly sunny with a high in the upper 60s to low 70s
IBD Urologist Sean Cable.
Local interviews, podcasts, and more are always fresh and always on file at thebug.fm.