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This is your WFHR Daily News Roundup for locally grown radio 97.5 FM and 13.20 AM
and WISC country 105.5 FM WIRI in Wisconsin Rapids.
WFHR and WIRI News. I'm Alyssa K.
There's a dense fog advisory today until noon for marathon, portage, washera and wood counties.
Temperatures are at or below freezing early this morning that combined with the dense fog
could produce a thin layer of ice on roads, bridges and sidewalks.
You'll only be able to see about one quarter mile or less in dense fog.
Be sure your headlights are on and expect slippery spots.
Increase your following distance and plan for extra travel time.
The oldest living US president of all time has passed away.
Lisa Hale has more.
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, has passed away at 100 years old.
In 2002, Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic work with the Carter Center.
He was also very active in building hundreds of homes for habitat for humanity.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers released a statement that said,
quote, former president Carter was a committed and dedicated advocate for peace, human rights,
and treating others with dignity, decency and respect.
Qualities that earned him respect and admiration for many across our country and around the world.
President Carter died at his home in Plains, Georgia.
Gas prices fell again last week, dropping 5.9 cents per gallon for an average of 275 across the state.
This is 2.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, and 5.7 cents higher than this time last year.
2024 marks the second year in a row of declining prices on the national level as we close out the year.
We may see some high set gas stations over the next week in our area.
Officials at Gas Buddy expect another price cycle in the Great Lakes region,
but overall the national average should remain mostly stable.
Prices in Central Wisconsin today range from 248 to 279 per gallon.
Driving in dense fog can make you feel disoriented.
Britney Merlot has some tips to help you get home safely.
First things first. Most colors are equipped with fog lights.
This is the time to use them, and only have the low beam fog lights on.
Using your car's high beams can severely decrease your visibility even more,
because the stronger beams reflect off the water particles and the fog and make it appear denser.
Also, use your windshield wipers. They'll help keep the glass clear, even if it's not raining.
Putting them on the lowest possible setting should work well, and turn on your defroster,
because fog occurs in high humidity, so it's a good time to flip that defrost function on.
This will help dry off the inside of your car's windows, and drive slow.
Keep a lookout for other vehicles. Never slam on your brakes and keep a longer following distance.
Now I know this may be your first instinct, as you may not feel comfortable losing sight of others.
It's safer. The time between you and other cars should be 9-12 seconds in dense fog,
and if you feel disoriented, pull over to the side of the road and put your hazard lights on.
Hours will change this week for Southwood County YMCA locations in Wisconsin Rapids and Adams.
On Tuesday, the Rapids location will close at noon, and in Adams, they will close at 2pm.
Beginning on Wednesday, January 1st, members who pay for the key fob will have 24-7 access in Wisconsin Rapids,
beginning at 4pm when business hours end. The Adams location will not be open on Wednesday at all.
The Port Edwards main building will close until further notice beginning January 1st.
This doesn't include the Youth Center Gymnastics building.
If you have questions call the Wisconsin Rapids location at 715-818-9622 or Adams at 608-472-5400.
Former President Jimmy Carter has passed away at 100 years old.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said former President Jimmy Carter was a committed and dedicated advocate for peace, human rights, and treating others with dignity, decency, and respect.
Carter served one term as President after being elected in 1976. In 2002, he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Carter Center.
Cold and flu season is here, even if the snow isn't. Brittany Merlot has some tips on how to help treat your common cold.
Got that common winter cold coming on? You should know that there are common mistakes happening when people pick up over the counter medicines.
Patients at times may not read the labels or know what the active ingredients are in each medication.
That's Statson Patricus, an Aspirus Pharmacy resident. He said that sometimes people are taking two different products with the same ingredients in them, which doubles the dose and may increase side effects.
It is best to talk to your doctor when say if you have a cough, if you've been trying to treat it over the counter and it's been about a week and then the cough gets worse, let your provider know.
He says read the label and make sure it's not a combination product.
A $7 million federal grant is coming to Wisconsin to help drug users. Stuart J. Wattles has the story.
The state DOJ is on the receiving end of the money that will be used to enhance the accessibility of substance abuse treatment options.
What's called the Wisconsin deflection program focuses on providing early intervention and support for people struggling with addiction.
It's a collaborative effort between healthcare providers, law enforcement and emergency services.
You can call 211 for help finding local resources if you're having a mental health crisis call 988.
An air quality trend report released by the DNR covers the past 20 years of pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Britney Merlot tells us what they found.
Wildfire smoke events in 2023 resulted in the DNR issuing 15 air quality advisories, which is almost five times higher than the average over the past 12 years.
The report looked at ground level ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particle pollution and lead.
And what burned in Canada last year was over 2 million acres bigger than the state of Wisconsin.
That's six times the annual average and chart 5% of the entire Canadian forest.
And that smoke contained ozone forming pollutants, which combined with warmer than usual summer temperatures contributed to increased ozone concentrations.
Wisconsin has implemented many programs that have reduced emissions of ozone causing pollutants, but still these emission reductions have not resulted in the attainment of the 2015 ozone standard.
Wisconsin has lost almost one in five of its newspapers in the past year.
This year alone 130 papers nationwide shut down, but amid an increasing climate of misinformation and media distrust among some Americans, the news outlets they say they trust the most are community newspapers.
UW-Madison Professor Robert Asin.
It seems less and less that we're willing or able to see things that we may share in common.
And that's exacerbated by a media ecosystem where we're not even getting the same information, where we're not even sharing the same basic set of facts.
In the survey, 74% of Americans believe not having a local newspaper would seriously impact their community, yet more than half of all counties in the US have just one local news outlet, or none at all.
I'm Alyssa K for WFHR and WIRI News.
The Packers are swept by the Vikings.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports, for the second time this season the Packers lost to the Vikings, again by just two points, the final 27-25 at US Bank Stadium.
Packers running back, Josh Jacobs asked.
If the team has lost any confidence after being swept by both the Lions and now the Vikings this season.
I told our guys that at halftime, believing ourselves at the end of the day, like I said, we did a lot of things I feel like was on us.
So I told our guys, believing ourselves.
I don't think it was nobody in here that believed that we was just going to lose.
I think everybody had the belief that we was going to pull it out some type of way. We just felt sort of today.
The Packers will host the Bears next Sunday at noon, Men's College Oki.
The Badgers beat the Yukon Huskies.
4-3 to win the holiday faceoff at 5-4 in Milwaukee.
It's the third time in four years, Wisconsin has won the tournament.
NBA, the Bucks are in Indianapolis tomorrow afternoon, against the Pacers on New Year's Eve, tip off time at 2pm, with sports on Mike Clemens.
It is foggy again this morning.
It is going to stay cloudy here through the day today with a high in the upper 30s this afternoon.
Tonight cloudy into the upper 20s tomorrow.
Cloudy cooler in the low 30s we're going to drop our highs into the low 20s by Wednesday.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
Currently it's 26.
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