97.5 W F H R and 105.5 W I R I. Your Wisconsin Rapids Home for locally grown radio. Here's your Daily News Roundup.
For W F H R and W I R I News, I'm Alyssa K.
The Wisconsin Rapids Common Council is meeting tonight to give final approval for the 2026 City Budget.
City Departments faced a $724,000 deficit in the budget for next year. Over the past month, committees have held multiple meetings to find ways to trim the initial proposed budget.
Last night was the public hearing, giving people a chance to comment or ask questions about decisions made up to this point in the budget process. Only two people were at the meeting to comment.
Elizabeth Whalen said one option to make up the deficit was voted down by the council before asking residents.
It's complicated. I feel about the budget. I wish that you had asked us about whether we would consider that increased amount and that rather than going to the zero.
So that's my comments and thank you very much.
Whalen said a small increase to taxes may have been worth it to residents to avoid potential loss of services.
Tom Raeom spoke against eliminating people to help balance the budget.
Granted, it's one way to do it, but I disagree with that way to balance the budget. Thank you.
Older person Jay Katna responded to the issues brought up during public comment.
Nobody was eliminated. There was a few empty positions that are not funded in the budget specifically.
Katna said these unfunded positions are not eliminated and could be funded again at a later date.
No offense to anybody, but if you go through this budget, if you spend time really going through it, the only other way to come up with that seminar in 24,000 would have been to
give a big hit to one particular area.
The common council meeting is at 6 p.m. tonight at City Hall.
The federal government reopened last week, but Wisconsin state lawmakers are taking precautions for the future.
Lawmakers have introduced new legislation aimed at expanding access to food assistance during a government shutdown.
Keep Wisconsin Fed package was introduced on Thursday. It includes several proposed bills seeking to direct how the state government should react without federal funding for programs like SNAP.
The bill package includes expanded funding for the Farm to School program.
It also creates the Farm to Fork program, which would make grant funding available to things like food banks and childcare centers to purchase food grown by local farmers.
The government measures in the bill package would expand state aid for free school meals and new incentives to reduce food waste.
Tech Giant Metta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is putting a 700,000 square foot facility in Beaver Dam.
Savon Atome Olsen has more.
Metta company leaders say they'll be spending more than a billion dollars on the project.
They say it'll create more than a thousand construction jobs and then more than 100 permanent jobs once it's built.
Metta have not released how much power the data center will consume, but WEDC says the company is paying for $200 million worth of energy upgrades.
The company is giving $15 million to a lion energy to help families who can't afford their utility bills and will be preserving almost 600 acres as wetlands in partnership with Ducks Unlimited.
According to WPR's reporting, the city created a tax incentive program for Metta and once it expires, the mayor says Metta will be paying about 15% of all incoming tax revenue for the city.
The project is expected to be finished in 2027.
Former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimmel is stepping into a new federal role.
The journal Sentinel reports he's been chosen as interim US attorney for Wisconsin's Eastern District, which covers Milwaukee and nearby counties.
The appointment came from US Attorney General Pam Bondy after the usual nomination process stalled.
A jury trial date is set for Nikusa resident Jenny Wiki after felony fraud charges brought against her in April.
Wiki owns two restaurants in Nikusa, West River Cafe and Little Mexico.
Both eateries have been closed while Wiki's case works its way through the court system.
A 12-person jury trial is set for January 20th, 2026.
A solar project plan is under development in the city of Wisconsin Rapids.
Wisconsin Rapids Water Works and Lighting Commission has announced plans to partner with Great Lakes Utility and solar developer One Energy Renewables.
The project is expected to produce roughly 10.5 million kilowatt hours on 27 acres of land owned by the city.
This would provide enough power to supply roughly 1,300 homes.
The five megawatt solar project would be interconnected to the distribution grid already in place.
The city will hold a public hearing on December 1st at 4 p.m.
Gas prices fell 5.6 cents over the last week for an average of 277 across the state.
This is 14.5 cents higher than a month ago, but 5.6 cents lower than this time last year.
Officials at gas buddies say oil prices are mostly stable near the $60 per barrel level.
Refinery maintenance is almost complete, meaning supplies should increase.
Between that and seasonal declining demand, officials are hopeful the national average will be below $3 per gallon by Christmas.
I'm Melissa K for WFHR and WIRI News.
Yannis was an injury.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports NBA.
The Bucks Yannis and Tedicupo had to leave last night's game in the first half.
After apparently suffering a groin injury, the Bucks went on to lose 180 to 106 to the Cavaliers.
Head coach Doc Rivers asked how bad did Yannis look in the locker room?
Didn't look great. I can tell you that.
He'll now undergo an MRI.
College hoops, the badges with a win over Southern Illinois at Edwardsville.
At 94 to 69, Wisconsin now ranked 23rd NFL.
Packers running back, Josh Jacob suffering a contusion to his left knee against the Giants.
But Matt Luffler says he's confident in running back to Emmanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks, especially when it comes to past protection.
That's one thing you can always count on Chris Brooks, man.
That guy is going to do his job.
I know he only had the one carry, but I thought he did a nice job on that carry as well, just hitting the hole with some authority and then a manual.
Both those guys, you know, have called upon.
I have confidence that they're going to get the job done as Packers head coach Matt Luffler was sports on Mike Clemens.
We are going to have some snow this morning.
We could get an inch or two of accumulation, maybe even a little more in some spots by the time it winds down later today.
And then some gradual clearing by late this afternoon.
Hi today in the mid to upper 30s tonight, partly cloudy into the low to mid 20s tomorrow, mostly cloudy near 40.
I'm your neurologist Sean Cable.
That's your Wisconsin Rapids news roundup from WIRI and WFHR locally grown radio.
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