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
From the Wisconsin Rapids local newsroom, I'm Melissa Kaye
Wisconsin I stopped broadcasting a few days ago now two Democrats have introduced a bill to create an alternative a new government-sponsored network
Svanatoma Olsen reports
With side-lev streams the legislature the Supreme Court the executive branch the goal is to make state government accessible to everyone
Without it the only way to watch these things is to be at the capital in person
But they're facing a budget gap of nearly nine hundred thousand dollars for 2026 and after a year and a half of working to fundraise the network
Pawsed all operations December 15th
State Senator Mark Spritzer and state representative Brian Brown both Democrats are introducing a bill that would create a new public affairs network
Instead of Wisconsin I that means live streaming would be part of state government
Not a non-profit that relies on donations and sponsors Spritzer talking with civic media news director shalee pitman
It looks like we are going to be in a position of meeting
public taxpayer funding for the long term and if that's the case
Then we should consider whether it should just be a public
Entity that is accountable to elected officials and run for the public benefit
It would cost about two million dollars a year to provide this coverage of state government
But for this bill to pass and for any of this to work Spritzer and Brown need Republicans who are in charge of the legislature on board
I certainly hope to get support from Republicans. I don't believe we have any Republicans signed on yet
But this is something that I know
We've heard that Republican leaders are
interested in doing something
Spritzer hopes they can get the bill on the floor in January for civic media news. I'm Savannah, Tomay Olsen
A central Wisconsin paper mill is getting funding to modernize their dams is a bell in yato reports
Governor Tony Evers signed a bill last week that requires the Wisconsin Department of National Resources to provide
42 million dollars to DomTar paper company
Which operates a dam in Rothschild and one in the Kooza the Rothschild dam built in
1912 spans
663 feet across the Wisconsin River the modernization project aims to replace the timber cribs spillway section of the dam
Which was last replaced over 60 years ago the state funding will cover half of the total project cost which clocks in at
84 million dollars the legislation requires DomTar to begin the modernization by the end of next year if they don't they will have to return the funding to the state
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is accepting nominations for the
2025 Wisconsin Ethical Hunter Award
Established in 1997 the award recognizes a licensed
Wisconsin Hunter who demonstrates exceptional ethics
Character and respect for others while in the field examples of ethical actions include helping other hunters locate lost game or equipment
Mentoring new hunters or protecting natural resources anyone including hunters or non-hunters may nominate a licensed
Wisconsin Hunter for actions taken during the 2025 calendar year a five-person committee will review the nominations and
select the recipient based on a single noteworthy action or event
nominations must be submitted by January 31 and can be sent by mail or email to the Wisconsin DNR
The three-hour common council meeting in Wisconsin Rapids this week focused mainly on the water works in letting solar power project proposal
After several meetings this fall and a public hearing mostly against the project the common council voted five to three to sign a letter of intent
Mayor Matt Sackert tells WFHR this doesn't guarantee that the project will happen
However, it makes it possible to apply for clean energy tax credits before they're phased out in 2026
Yeah, basically saying at December 31st if you have a letter of intent that is good enough to get you the incentives
If you decide to move forward with the project if we decide not to
Then it's a done deal. We don't do anything. We don't need we're not promising anything. We're not breaking contracts
Implemented by the inflation reduction act of 2022 these clean energy tax credits are now being phased out and
Terminated by the enactment of legislation commonly known as the one big beautiful bill act
To qualify for the credits construction would need to begin before July 4th
2026 and or placed in service before December 31st
2027
The council also voted to open some shared roads to ATV and UTV traffic
Wisconsin Rapids roads are closed except for 600 feet of Griffith County Z shared with Wood County
People who live on these shared roads can only travel in one direction
Our really doing is saying okay those roads are now open on both sides
So people that leave can actually come back home now
The council voted four to four Mayor Sackert broke the tie to open shared roads to ATV UTV traffic
Local news at the top and bottom of every hour throughout the day or
Undemand anytime at wfhr.com and wri.fm from the Wisconsin Rapids local newsroom. I'm Melissa Kay
Wisconsin in the final four high on my cleanse with sports women's college volleyball
It's the Wisconsin Badgers tonight against number one rank Kentucky coverage on ESPN the Badgers head coach Kelly chef field
My dad passed away a few months ago. He would have loved watching this team
The final four is just so special. It is so incredible and when you've been there you
It's it's almost a
Every fiber of your being you want as many of your players that are committed that decide to come here that you want them to experience that
NBA the buck shows the Toronto Raptors tonight at Pfizer forum NFL Packers wide receiver Christian Lawson back at practice
After spending time in a Denver hospital with that shoulder injury
Oh, I think it's right how I hit the ground just like I think my elbow had hit first
So I kind of just jams your shoulder up into your shoulder ground. I'm not sure
But yeah, I just yeah, it's how I landed was a little awkward. That's Christian Watson with sports on my clements a very
Wintery day today was showers this morning some snow light snow this afternoon
It's also going to be very windy with gusts from 35 to 45 that's going to create blowing snow and temperatures
They will drop from the thirties this morning into the lower teens by later this afternoon. I'm your neurologist Sean cable
That's your Wisconsin Rapids news roundup from WIRI and WFHR locally grown radio
Find more news anytime at WFHR.com and WIRI.fm
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