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 4 WFHR and WIRI News, I'm Melissa K.
When the Wisconsin Rapids paper mill closed in 2020, around 900 people were put out of work.
The versatile mill property has been in flux since then with the Swedish company Bill
Root purchasing the site in 2022.
Bill Root sold idle sections of the site and the land to capital recovery group LLC,
but they still own the converting facility and employ around 150 people in that building
along the river.
Sanoco owns the base mill and employs around 165 people manufacturing and converting paper
board.
Now for a little over a year the sounds of demolition can be heard on the craftman site.
Gerald Womberg and his company MRD Group are tearing down the buildings and restoring
the site to grade level.
We're just on our 13th month and the whole project is 18 months and we'll have most of
the structures completely on the ground here by the end of November.
Womberg said they'll spend three to four months cleaning up the site.
He anticipates they're roughly three months ahead of schedule.
Wisconsin Rapids mayor Madzacker stresses the importance of respecting the history of
the site.
120 years to build it and now we're taking it down in a year's time.
I mean it's just a lot of sad emotions that go into it.
There's a lot of anger from people in the community but at the same time nobody wants
to sit here and watch this thing deteriorate without seeing something possible for the future.
After the site is cleared and ready for development mayor Zacher says there'll be
220 acres of prime real estate with abundant electricity for new industries.
We want manufacturing if it all possible as a government we don't have to say over what
happens.
Zacher says whomever ends up buying the land will decide what gets built.
It's more of a industrial park at this point and we look forward to see what happens also.
Some Wisconsinites health care premiums could skyrocket by $30,000 a year if Congress
doesn't continue the insurance tax subsidies.
One of the biggest sticking points of the government shutdown.
Savannah Tomay Olsen reports.
People who buy health insurance through the healthcare.gov marketplace can qualify for
what are essentially discounts on their insurance to make it more affordable.
Those discounts are said to expire at the end of the year which would make health care
coverage more expensive for up to 42 million Americans.
Sharon Wisconsin about 313,000 people have plans they bought on the marketplace and 88%
of those qualify for some sort of tax credit.
On average those tax credits save Wisconsinite $664 a month.
But leaders say costs will surge for some people, Governor Tony Evers.
The middle class family of foreign was saw see their premium more than double going from
$886 a month to over $2,300 a month.
Six-year-old couple in Rice Lake making about $85,000 a year could see their premium rocket
800%.
That's an annual increase of over $30,000 in costs.
And that's just for the premiums to have insurance before even thinking about things like
filling prescriptions or going to the ER.
Democrats in Congress say they will not agree to end the shutdown unless the tax credits
will continue.
Republicans have said they would consider extending the tax credits after reopening the
government.
Lockheed Congresswoman Gwen Moore.
We're going to see families like this take some risks and simply drop their coverage
and just cross their fingers and pray.
Maybe we could just get by and show up in the emergency room if something really goes
bad.
Data shows when health care systems the government and charities have to absorb the costs of
the uninsured prices go up for everyone.
For civic media news, I'm Savannah Tome Olsen.
Over 50 wildfires have happened in Wisconsin this month alone and the Department of Natural
Resources is urging extra caution.
Burning brush and leaves are the main cause of wildfires this time of year.
Combined with dry weather and gusty winds, we're at elevated risk of fire danger.
The DNR recommends avoiding outdoor debris burning until the ground is completely covered
in snow.
Fires can also be caused by sparks from recreational equipment, campfires, and hot ashes from fireplaces.
Officials recommend drowning ashes with water and stir until all the heat and smoke are
gone.
Gas prices rose 17.8 cents per gallon over the last week.
The average across Wisconsin is 279.
This is still 3.5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and almost 8 cents lower than
this time last year.
Fires at gas buddies say a refinery fire caused the jump in prices in the Midwest, however
relief is likely in the weeks ahead as the situation stabilizes.
Looking ahead, the national average could increase to slightly above the $3 per gallon
mark due to the possibility of a U.S.-China trade deal.
Gas buddy officials say oil prices could lift on optimism the deal would increase trade
and reduce tariffs.
They say the national average should slip back below $3 per gallon ahead of Thanksgiving.
Prices in central Wisconsin range from 267 to 281 per gallon.
There's a technology fair at the Portage County Aging and Disability Resource Center tomorrow.
At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, they'll host a speaker at the Lincoln Center presenting information
to help you stay safe while shopping online.
You can learn how to avoid scams and keep your personal information safe when buying online.
From noon to two, you can get free tech support and information.
I'm Melissa K for WFHR and W.I.R.I. News.
It's the Bucks in the Next.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports NBA, the Bucks host of New York Knicks.
Milwaukee coming off a disappointing loss in Cleveland, 118 to 113 to fall to 2 and 1.
Bucks Center Miles Turner.
You know, being new to this group, you know, my key messaging to everybody was like,
you have to look forward to playing from behind.
You know, this NBA stuff's going to happen.
Um, you know, that's how you're going to find yourself in unfortunate positions.
But I just think it's very important that, you know, we want to be, you know, a playoff
caliber team or a championship team.
We got to, you know, really embrace, you know, being down.
And I think we did a good job of that in that third quarter.
And, um, yeah, you know, there's no excuses to this league.
You know, there's a matter of who's out there.
You know, we all lay some up and try to go out there and go out there and compete.
Baseball, game four of the World Series tonight in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers leading the series to games to one over the Blue Jays.
After winning last night, six to five, the game went past midnight.
The Dodgers Freddie Freeman with a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 18th inning
to win the game with sports on Mike Clemens.
Mostly cloudy today are high right around 55 this afternoon.
The wind out of the east at around five to 15 tonight.
Mostly cloudy will drop to 35 for a low tomorrow.
Mostly sunny with a high of 55.
I meteorologist Sean Cable.
That's your W F HR and W I R I daily news roundup from Civic Media.
Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, Apple or wherever you find your podcasts.
Find more news at W F HR dot com or West country.
That's W I S country dot com.