BDFD Offering Free Batteries For Smoke Detectors
10/24/16 – Daylight Savings Time ends on November 6 and the Beaver Dam Fire Department is using the occasion to remind the public to change the batteries in their smoke detectors. Fire Captain Russ Johnson says working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors save lives. For a limited time, the department is offering free 9-volt batteries. Johnson says those in need can stop by the Beaver Dam Fire Department on South Lincoln Avenue, the Watermark Community and Senior Center on South Center Street or the Beaver Dam Community Library on North Spring Street. There are also a limited number of smoke detectors available for those who cannot afford them. Johnson says if you need assistance with installation of a smoke detector, that too is also available.
Assembly Candidates On WBEV’s Community Comment
10/24/16 – The candidates in the contested race for the 37th Assembly District will be our guests this afternoon on WBEV’s Community Comment. Democrat Jordan Turner is challenging Republican incumbent John Jagler on the fall ballot. Turner will join us on AM1430 at 12:35pm this afternoon followed by Jagler at 1:20pm.
Horicon Schools Discussing Facility Renovations
10/24/16 – Discussions continue in Horicon about renovating the school’s athletic venues. The district recently created a Facilities Advisory Committee made up of roughly 20 individuals from the community to look into different options. Superintendent Richard Appel says the committee has identified the district’s needs and is looking into the associated costs. Appel says the primary project being discussed is moving the football field closer to the high school grounds from its current location at Discher Park. He says other ideas being considered include adding a performing arts center, creating a wrestling room to move practices out of a cafeteria, and improve the baseball and softball diamonds. The committee plans to meet again tonight. Appel says there is no timetable to approve any projects.
Local School Holding Reformation Day Symposium
10/24/16 – One local school is holding a day-long event to celebrate Reformation Day. Catholic Church Historian Franz Posset is the featured speaker for Wayland Academy’s symposium. During a recent appearance on WBEV’s Community Comment, Posset said his purpose at the event is to clarify Catholic Church research from the last 100 years that debunks some of the misconceptions about Luther. Posset says one of the topics he will cover deals with how the Reformation began. Despite being widely published and accepted, Posset says Luther did not nail the 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg’s All Saints’ Church on October 31, 1517. Rather, Posset says Luther mailed the thesis to church leaders. The symposium runs from 10:15 am to 8 pm next Monday. In addition to multiple presentations about Luther, there will be an evening prayer service. To register, contact First Lutheran Church. Register by contacting First Lutheran Church at 920-885-4497 or www.firstluthbd.org.
Waupun Man Involved In Five-Vehicle Wreck In Madison
10/24/16 – A Waupun man was involved in five-vehicle weekend accident in Dane County that resulted in six injuries. The Wisconsin State Patrol says the incident occurred at 4:41am Saturday morning on Interstate 39-90 in Madison and two of the vehicles were semi-trucks. A 33-year-old Addison man was driving a semi that struck several vehicles that had slowed for bridge construction. That semi then traveled from the southbound lanes through the median into the northbound lanes where he struck another semi driven by a 62-year-old Waupun man. Neither semi driver sustained injuries. The trailer of the Waupun man’s semi-truck separated and overturned blocking a lane of traffic. There were three cars struck by the semi operated by the Addison man. Of the six injuries, the most serious was to a 40-year-old Eau Claire man. Four other people from Eau Claire, ranging in age from 15-to-60, sustained non-life-threatening injuries along with a 30-year-old Janesville man. The injured were all transported to Madison area hospitals. The accident remains under investigation.
Public Schools Lose $2.4-Million To Voucher Students
10/24/16 – Wisconsin public schools will lose two-point-four-million dollars in state funds this year, as more than 200 students with special needs use tax vouchers to go to private schools. The Journal Sentinel says Milwaukee is among 22 districts in the state that are being affected. Some observers say there was more interest in the program than expected, and lawmakers will have to address a funding squeeze in the next session. Many of the vouchers were given to students already in private schools. Lake County Lutheran High School in Hartland received 108-thousand additional state tax dollars for nine special needs students — five of whom were enrolled there before.
Fall Colors Hitting Peak In Region
10/24/16 – Fall colors in Beaver Dam are at 90-percent peak. That’s according to the Fall Color Report at travelwisconsin.com. Most of the region is at 100-percent peak, including Portage and the Wisconsin Dells. Jefferson and Madison are at 50-percent peak. Most northern counties hit their peaks during the second week of October. Beaver Dam is expected to hit 100-percent this week.
Schools Seeking Millions Through Referendum
10/24/16 – Beaver Dam and Waupun are among 25 Wisconsin school districts that will ask voters next month to raise millions in taxes to keep their programs going. In Madison, two school board members blame state Republicans and their 2011 Act Ten union bargaining limits for having to seek 26-million dollars above state revenue limits for the next four years. Eau Claire has the largest revenue cap exemption request — 88-million dollars for 15 years. Madison board members Dean Loumos and Ed Hughes say they’ve tried to use the Act Ten fiscal tools given to schools to save money — but Hughes says most involve cutting teacher pay, and that’s “not a long term strategy for a healthy district.” State Assembly finance chair John Nygren tells the Wisconsin State Journal the state had to do something because of a huge budget deficit, and the disappearance of federal stimulus funds for schools — and Nygren says Act Ten “took the handcuffs off school boards” with its lower pay hikes, and higher teacher contributions for health and pension benefits.
World Series Tickets Averaging $6K
10/24/16 – Wisconsin’s long suffering Cubs fans might have to take out a loan, or hit their retirement accounts to see their team in the World Series. Being there would be a once in a lifetime experience for virtually all fans of both teams — and the Chicago Tribune says it’s why tickets average six-thousand dollars each for Games Three, Four, and Five at Wrigley Field while seats in Cleveland average three-thousand apiece. Chicago opens the Fall Classic tomorrow (Tuesday) night in Cleveland — and the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, while Cleveland hasn’t won the baseball title since 1948. The Cubs have had lots of Wisconsin fans for years, dating back to the mid 1960s when the Braves left Milwaukee and before the Brewers moved to the state in 1970. Stub Hub was selling standing room tickets for as low as two-thousand dollars this (Monday) morning for Friday night’s Game Three at Wrigley — while a standing room spot in Cleveland was as low as 750-dollars for Tuesday’s Game One.
Richland Center Seeking New Worlds Record
10/24/16 – Folks in Richland Center will try to set a new Guinness World Record this week for the most pumpkins carved in a line or a chain. Organizers hope to have 32-hundred pumpkins carved, breaking the current mark of two-thousand-15 pumpkins set about this time last year in Hokkaido, Japan. School students, church groups, and numerous other volunteers will start carving on Wednesday. On Sunday, the pumpkins will be lined up at Krouskop Park along the Pine River, where a Guinness judge will be on hand to see what happens. Richland Center’s Walmart donated the pumpkins, but people can bring their own — and organizers say it’s possible that the new record could exceed four-thousand gourds.
