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This is your WGBW Daily News Roundup for the Talk of Green Bay, 97.9 FM and 1590 AM.
For 97.9 WGBW News, I'm Lisa Hale.
A young child was struck and killed by a bus in Waukeshaw County yesterday morning.
The accident happened in Lisbon at Silver Spring in a immediate school.
Officials say the 4K student was at the school for a shuttle bus transfer to Willow Springs Learning Center.
There were other students on the bus when it struck the child.
The driver is cooperating with authorities and the incident is still under investigation.
A Cacana man accused of shooting his father 15 times still hasn't had his preliminary hearing in court.
45-year-old Gregory Wedes is charged with first degree intentional homicide in the death of his father Daniel Wedes senior of Appleton on November 24.
Wedes told the court that he has an attorney but that attorney was not present at the proceedings on Thursday.
Wedes will appear in court next on February 20th for a status conference.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission has ordered an investigation into the Madison City clerk's office.
After nearly 200 ballots weren't counted in the November election.
Madison Bureau Chief Savannah Tomay Olsen has the story.
The day after Christmas the clerk's office made public that 193 people's absentee ballots were not processed.
According to a timeline from the mayor's office, staff from the clerk's office found the first batch of sealed absentee ballots on November 12 and the second batch on December 3.
That timeline says the clerk's office first asked the Wisconsin Elections Commission about the issue on December 18.
Notify the city attorney the next day and told the mayor's office the day after that.
That means they didn't tell any outside agencies about the problem until more than a month after the first batch of ballots was found.
And that delay is part of the problem for the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Chair Ann Jacobs says rather than wait for someone to file a complaint about the uncounted ballots, they want to investigate as soon as possible.
My inclination was that this was such a serious oversight.
I didn't want to wait for a complaint.
I felt it was important that the Commission act promptly.
I have real questions about what all happened here and I would want to know those answers sooner rather than later.
Some of it is just speed. I thought this was so egregious that it was important.
We we move immediately.
This is the first formal investigation since the Wisconsin Elections Commission was created in 2016.
For civic media news, I'm Savannah Tomay Olsen.
If the Democratic Party wants Americans without college degrees to vote with them, then it needs to offer them something transformative for the nation's economy.
So says UWGB professor and chair of democracy and justice studies John Shelton.
We need working Americans to see what it is that they deserve and that a party is actually fighting for those things and fighting with them.
This isn't a sales job, right? I mean, this is building something together and we have to do this over a sustained amount of time.
Shelton was a guest on civic media's rational revolution with Mark Becker, rational revolution airs Saturdays at two across the civic media radio network.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has reported an increase in homelessness of nearly 4% of Wisconsin this year.
According to their data, over 5,000 people experienced homelessness at some point in 2024 with hundreds unable to find reliable shelter.
The report also found over 200 unaccompanied children experiencing homelessness.
Over recent years, the unhoused population has grown across the country as people struggle with rising home prices, stagnant wages and inflation.
The price for a gallon of gas should stay low well into the new year with more here civic media's Jimmy Kuska.
Wisconsin gas prices have held steady for the past couple of months and that trend should continue for several weeks.
Here's gas buddies Patrick DeHon.
It's been a pretty good year. I mean, compared to 2022, the average price for gasoline this year in Wisconsin peaked at about 351 a gallon in July.
And it's been below $3 a gallon for the last month and a half and it probably will stay below $3 a gallon for most of the winter.
The next big increase in prices is going to be the seasonal rise that we see late winter early spring.
DeHon added that things could change, especially if tariffs are placed on oil imports.
For civic media news, I'm Jimmy Kuska.
The US has recently set records for oil production contributing to lower prices at the pump.
Wisconsin residents who drive an electric vehicle should be prepared for an extra tax when using public charging stations in the new year.
Among a number of other new year rule changes, there will be new three cents per kilowatt tax on public charging stations and businesses like hotels that offer EV chargers will need to register with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
Transportation officials say the added tax will help provide funding for road improvement projects and estimate it will generate over $3 million in revenue next year.
Advocates want state lawmakers to do more to support Wisconsin caregivers. Half a million Wisconsinites are family caregivers providing 538 million hours of unpaid help every year.
AARP Wisconsin wants the legislature to expand the state's family medical leave law to include up to 14 weeks of paid leave.
Martin Hernandez from AARP Wisconsin says 8 in 10 caregivers juggle interruptions to their work schedules to care for a loved one.
Oftentimes there's different barriers, but those are cultural or economic where people don't necessarily want to see this as a transaction that has to do with their pocketbook.
Proponents also hope the state will prioritize the needs of caregivers and the state's aging population as they develop the next state budget, which could include adopting the Medicaid expansion.
Wisconsin is one of 10 states that has not yet expanded its Medicaid program, which would extend eligibility to about 91,000 more residents.
Energy experts say Wisconsin is expected to see an over $4 billion investment in clean energy projects over the coming years.
A number of long-term energy projects are planned in the Midwest that will either be completely or partially located in Wisconsin.
One of those projects includes the construction of long-range transmission lines for transporting clean energy.
Experts say the construction on the projects alone could support thousands of jobs and when completed they could produce over six and a half gigawatts of clean energy.
I'm Lisa Hale, 97.9 WGBW News. For news anytime, log on to www.fm.
The Bucks Lose to the Nets. Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports, NBA. For the second time in a week, the Bucks lose at home to the Brooklyn Nets.
The final 1-13-1-10. The Bucks trailed by as much as 24 points, head coach Doc Rivers.
Yeah, two completely different games to me. I mean, the first game, you know, the night Yannis was barely moving, getting back tonight.
I just thought their defense of intensity and we really literally didn't run much offense tonight and you saw the difference.
NFL, the Packers getting ready to host the Chicago Bears Sunday, three Packer players named the Pro Bowl, defensive players were Sean Gary and Xavier McKinney, on offense running back Josh Jacobs, who left the Raiders to come to Green Bay, earning his third career trip to the Pro Bowl.
I feel like if you go about things the right way, you come in every day, willing to work in all the accolades and all the other kind of things as if it takes care of yourself in the end.
I just come in and you know how to be a better version of me these days, and I guess I'm reaping that right now.
That's the Packers' Josh Jacobs, with sports on Mike Clemens.
On your entertainment beat, I'm Peach Waba. Are you looking for a drastic New Year's resolution that might lead to immortality?
A new documentary called Don't Die might be for you. The film Chronicles Rich Tech Guy Brian Johnson's quest and not only live forever, but turn back time when it comes to the body.
He wants to be 18 again, and thanks to some controversial methods like his chances. In the film, viewers will see Johnson's routine, which according to variety, includes a daily regimen of taking 130 pills, dinner at 11 a.m. going to bed at 8.30 p.m., working out for 90 minutes a day and weekly MRIs, skin care treatments, plasma exchanges, and a type of gene therapy that is not approved by the FDA.
That wasn't enough, instead of celebrating his birthday every 12 months, Johnson does so every 19 months, and it only costs 2 million a year.
The documentary is only 88 minutes long, I'm guessing Brian Johnson wanted it to be much longer. You can stream Don't Die on Netflix.
Tom Cruise is getting into the casting business. The mission Impossible Star is currently looking for a younger version of himself to play the role of Ethan Hunt.
The next two installments of the franchise, those would be films 8 and 9, will be prequels.
Rumor has that the 8th film will be Cruise's last on screen, but he will still continue to produce the franchise.
Glen Powell was initially rumored to take over the role, but those rumblings have recently been shot down.
No word yet on whether or not Cruise will expect his younger self to do his own stunts. Could be a deal breaker.
Sticking with the action thriller genre, Viola Davis will play the president in the upcoming film G20.
Variety reports the Oscar winner will play Commander-in-Chief Daniel Sutton, who narrowly avoids being kidnapped, then proceeds to save her family, and the world.
The film will be directed by Patricia Riggand and drop on Amazon Prime this coming spring.
For more showbiz fun, tune in to Nightlight with me, Peach Waba. Weeknights from 6 to 8 p.m. on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Hollywood has a reputation of being progressive, but as a recent drill down would indicate that isn't always the case.
According to Variety, despite women directing some of 2024's critically acclaimed hits like Baby Girl, The Fire Inside, and The Substance,
overall, women directed just 16% of the 250 top-grossing films from last year. That is about the same percentage as 2023.
When you drill down even further, women directed only 11% of the top 100 grossing films from last year.
23-year-old music phenom, Billie Eilish, had the most streamed song of 2024. The song Birds of a Feather off Eilish's third album Hit Me Hard and Soft,
was streamed over 1.75 billion times on Spotify. The song was written by Eilish and her brother Phineas.
Birds of a Feather has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Solo Performance of the Year.
Looks like I got shut out again.
That's your WGBW Daily News Roundup from Civic Media. Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you find your podcasts.
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