This is your WFHR Daily News Roundup, for locally grown radio 97.5 FM and 1320 AM, and
WISC country 105.5 FM WIRI in Wisconsin Rapids.
For WFHR and WIRI News, I'm Melissa K. A Wisconsin Rapids historian, jeweler, watchmaker,
and avid local film creator died at the age of 102 last week.
Paul Gross here.
Paul Raymond Gross was born on September 10, 1923 in Wisconsin Rapids.
He started making movies at the age of 13 and made a side career in film throughout his
life.
Gross is well known in the area for establishing Paul Gross Jewelers in 1978.
He'd been licensed and working in the industry since 1951.
According to WFHR Archivist Pamela Hilke, Paul Gross's voice was a familiar sound
over the airways.
Paul voiced his own commercials and often chose to schedule them around 7-10 AM right
before the local news.
He always ended his commercials with a phrase, thanks for listening.
Gross retired in 1992 at the age of 69, selling the store to Robin Cushel, who continues
the business at 241 Oak Street in Wisconsin Rapids.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, Gross launched his movie-making operation called Gross
Tela Lloyd Productions.
He developed 16-millimeter films of area high school basketball and football games.
His love for filmmaking continued until 2016 at the age of 93.
Gross's final movie is called The History of Wisconsin Rapids, the last page, and can
be found through the Wood County Historical Museum's website.
There you'll also find the 30 film series Gross made titled The History of Central
Wisconsin.
The visitation is tonight from 5-7 PM at Richa Funeral Home.
It will include Paul's favorite thin crust pizzas, popcorn and beverages.
A rosary will be held at 7 PM.
The funeral mass will be celebrated at 9 AM tomorrow at St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic
Church.
I'm Melissa K. for WFHR and W.I.R.I. News.
A bill proposed in Madison could add a microbe to the list of official state symbols.
Isabella Nieto has more.
Joe Handelsman is the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and a plant pathologist
at UW-Madison.
She testified before the state assembly, pushing for lawmakers to make bacterium lactococcus
lactose, the Wisconsin state microbe.
The bacterium is used in cheese making, particularly in the production of cheddar, camembert,
rogfurt and colby cheese, which lawmakers have previously tried to make the state cheese.
Handelsman says Wisconsin has a microbial economy, and alongside cheese, the growth of alfalfa,
digestion of hay by cows, beer, sauerkraut and bread are products of microbial processes.
Wisconsin doesn't currently have an official state cheese, nor does it have an official
state microbe.
If the bill passes, the bacterium will be included in the blue book, the biennial guide to state
government, alongside other state symbols, like the state flower, state fish and state
soil.
Members of the Ho-Chunk Nation have an alternate option for food assistance, as funding for
food share, Wisconsin's Food Assistance Program, is said to soon run out of funding.
Food Chunk Nation members must first cancel their food share benefits, then provide that
documentation to the Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Health, before applying for the Ho-Chunk Nation
Food Distribution Program.
Officials note you'll need to reapply for food share if you want to return to that program
once funding resumes, and it's possible there could be delays in reinstating food share
benefits.
State Representative Vinnie Moreci will hold a town hall and food drive tomorrow from
noon to 1 at the Portage County Public Librarian Stevens Point.
Those donating food should check expiration dates first.
Food will be donated to Operation Bootstrap.
Its budget season in the city of Wisconsin Rapids, this means city officials are working
to review budgets throughout city departments.
Mayor Matt Zacker says they have more work to do.
We have a ways to go to kind of fill the gap between what is being brought in, what's
being spent.
One of the important funding issues the city is facing this year involves EMS services.
A big part of that conversation right now is the outlying contracted areas for EMS services
that we've taken on over the years to provide the best services possible for all the contracted
areas that we have around us.
But at the same time, we also have to make sure that it's fair in terms of who's paying
for what services and how that goes.
This isn't just an issue in Wisconsin Rapids in the surrounding areas, but are brought
or lack of the EMS services affecting the entire state.
A report in June from the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health regarding fire service reliability
identified concerns from fire chiefs of inadequate staffing and a lack of financial resources.
Making sure that we come up with a solution that's transparent and viable for not just
now in the next couple of years, but really this is going to be an ongoing problem for
probably the next couple of decades.
The Finance and Property Committee will review public safety budgets tomorrow at 5 p.m.
at City Hall.
Budget meetings will continue through mid-November.
You can see the full list of budget and other city meetings at wirapids.gov.
The Clark County Forestry in Parks ATV UTV and Navi Ridge off-road motorcycles trails
will close for the season this coming Saturday.
They are slated to reopen again on December 15th, weather permitting.
I'm Melissa K for WFHR and WIRI News.
You can find more news and sign up for our newsletter at wfhr.com.
The Packers shut down the Steelers.
I am my Clemens with sports from Pittsburgh where the Packers beat the Steelers, 35 to 25,
Green Bay fell behind 16 to 7 at the half, quarterback Jordan Love.
When we came in locker room, the message was that we just weren't finishing, we weren't
executing our plays and weren't locked in on doing the Airbys 111.
There's plays being made and I think we just weren't executing those and we weren't able
to stand the field.
I think the first half when we were by really fast for us was offense, we had one scoring
drive.
I think the message was just do your job, lock in and execute.
At 1.11, it completed 20 consecutive passes.
Aaron Rodgers and why the Steelers offense stalled in the second half.
Yeah, we had too many penalties, too many negative yards plays and then I wasn't accurate
enough on third down.
We weren't creating enough space, but we'll look at the film and we'll get better and
we got a good team coming in next week.
NBA, the Bucks with the Loss on the Road to the Cavaliers, 118 to 113, despite Janus
with 40 points, was sports on my Clemens.
That's your WFHR and WIRI Daily News Roundup from Civic Media.
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