97.5 W-F-H-R and 105.5 W-I-R-I. Your Wisconsin Rapids Home or locally grown radio. Here's
your Daily News Roundup.
4 W-F-H-R and W-I-R-I News. I'm Melissa K. Wisconsin's Head of Education says her department
needs more power under the law to investigate teacher misconduct. Savannah Tomay Olsen reports.
This all started with a story from the cap times. They found that over a five-year period,
there were 200 investigations into teacher misconduct, leading to revoked or surrendered
licenses that did not show up in the existing database from the Department of Public
Construction. A couple weeks ago, there was a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Government
Operations Accountability and Transparency. State Superintendent Jill Underley was out
of the state and did not attend. But the Senate Committee on Education had their own hearing
Tuesday, and this time, Underley was there.
Student safety is not political. It's a moral responsibility that we all share. And
as both your state superintendent and as a mom, that responsibility guides everything
that I do. And that's why in recent weeks, it's been deeply disappointing to see attempts
to turn this serious issue into yet another partisan political side show.
When asked whether the DPI has enough resources to properly investigate claims of educator
misconduct, Underley says what they really need is subpoena power or the ability to
compel people to do interviews.
Today, the DPI lacks subpoena power during investigations, meaning we rely on voluntary
cooperation of witnesses, district officials, and others to gather critical information.
During the hearing Tuesday, Underley laid out some ways the legislature could help, including
by passing a law that defines grooming a handful of other states have done the same, and
now two Republicans have authored a bill to do just that.
She also asked that lawmakers close the loophole for private school teachers. They do not need
licenses to teach in Wisconsin, and therefore can't be investigated by the DPI either.
Underley also announced the DPI is launching a new database that shows teachers who have
surrendered their licenses or had them revoked.
For civic media news, I'm Savannah Tomay Olson.
Wisconsin saves day happened on November 6th this year. Governor Tony Evers took the
opportunity to promote an automatic savings program through the workplace intended to help
Wisconsinites improve their financial well-being.
Joanne Krulant's reports, Wisconsin saves program is an employee focused savings initiative,
which started as a pilot program in 2020.
The program provides Wisconsin employers with resources to encourage their employees to
save for emergencies in the future with their paychecks by using the automated saving strategy
of split deposit.
Since the start to the Wisconsin saves pilot program, more than 100 employers in Wisconsin
representing approximately 25,000 employees have enrolled in the program and used the resources
in the program's digital toolkit to promote automatic saving through split deposit to their
employees.
All Wisconsin employers are eligible to participate in the program.
While your arm hunting season opens in Wisconsin this month, and the DNR has some warnings
for hunters, Isabella Nieto has more.
The State Department of Natural Resources is warning hunters that tree-stand-related incidents
are among the leading causes of hunting injuries each year.
DNR and a Spirous Health are teaming up to remind hunters to practice safety as they head
out to harvest deer.
Falls from heights over 10 feet, which is common with most tree stands, can result in more
serious trauma.
Hunters should use tree straps and wear safety harnesses, check their gear for any wear
and tear, and use haul lines to lift equipment safely.
Wisconsin's 2025 Gun Deer season opens on Saturday, November 22nd, and runs through Sunday,
November 30th.
This is the time of year you're most likely to encounter deer on the road, Joanne Coulott's
reports.
The changing season comes increased activity from deer and a greater risk for car versus
deer crashes.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Division of Wisconsin State Patrol, urges
drivers to stay alert with more deer on the move during the fall rut or mating season.
This is the time of year when we typically see the most crashes involving deer, said Wisconsin
State Patrol Superintendent Tim Carnahan.
As the hours of daylight become shorter and more deer are crossing the highways, drivers
should be especially cautious and scan the road ahead to prevent dangerous crashes.
There were more than 17,000 crashes involving deer in Wisconsin in 2024, killing nine people
and injuring 707.
More than one-third of those crashes happened in October and November.
The Department of Natural Resources is looking to get more deer samples in central and northern
Wisconsin areas to test for chronic wasting disease.
Modern and central Wisconsin has become a priority area with newer detections and the
DNR is interested in getting more samples to understand the levels of chronic wasting
disease in those areas.
The map to find sampling locations is located on the DNR website.
The Wisconsin Rapids Performing Arts Center will soon be celebrating their 25th anniversary.
They're having a special event on Saturday, November 15th, to commemorate this milestone.
The open house begins in the lobby at 4 p.m.
At 5 guest speakers will share stories of how the pack impacted them and others.
These events are free and open to the public.
Dinner begins at 5.30 in the LHS cafeteria with music provided by LHS Orchestra's chamber
players.
The cost for dinner and the show is $25.
The show starts at 7 p.m.
I'm Melissa K for WFHR and WIRI News.
Back to the future with Fickle, Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports College Football.
Luke Fickle will be back next year as the Wisconsin Badgers head football coach.
That from Athletic Director Chris McIntosh, who said the focus will be more on funding
the program, not firing coach Fickle, the Badgers host the number 24 ranked Washington
Huskies at Camp Randall Stadium kickoff tomorrow afternoon at 3.30.
Former Badgers coach Paul Christ said to be a candidate for the head football coach
opening with the Oregon State beavers, basketball tonight, the Badgers in Northern Illinois
in Madison, NBA, the Bucks in the Bulls in Milwaukee, NFL.
We told you last spring, it was the league that nudged the Packers into proposing a ban
on the Philadelphia Eagles famous Tush push play, not Matlow Fleur.
I'm not going to get into it.
The NFL made a decision and we have to find a way to try to stop the play and it's a
tough play to stop.
That's Packers head coach Matlow Fleur with sports on Mike Clemens.
Mostly sunny today are high right around 50 this afternoon, tonight mostly cloudy will
drop to the upper 20s to low 30s for an overnight load tomorrow, a little bit of light rain
and snow possible with a high near 39.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
That's your Wisconsin Rapids News Roundup from WRI and WFHR, locally grown radio.
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