Jury duty questionnaire letters are going out again. Lane closures on the Jackson Street Bridge. Intersections closed for traffic light work.
Melissa KayeNov 7, 2024, 1:55 PM CST
Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. (WFHR, WIRI) – Will you need to serve jury duty in Wood County? If you received an envelope in September from the Wood County Clerk of Circuit Courts stamped with the red OFFICIAL MAIL and you didn’t return it, you may be asked to appear before a judge. It’s not for anything you’ve done wrong, but to see if you qualify to serve jury duty. Wood County sent our almost 3-thousand juror qualification questionnaires for 2025. Less than 300 were not returned and that is a fantastic return rate.
Circuit Court staff have mailed out a second notice to the people who didn’t return the first questionnaire. If you receive one of these envelopes, you’ll need to fill out the questionnaire online, even if you think you don’t qualify for jury duty. The next step is an Order to Show Cause hearing and you’ll have to appear in front of a Judge. If you have questions or concerns, you can reach out to the Clerk of Courts.
Be ready for a lane closure on the Jackson Street Bridge. This is due to the Bridge Lighting Project of the City. The westbound lane closure started yesterday and will continue through Wednesday, November 13th. Westbound traffic is detoured onto 1st Street North, then onto Market Street, then 3rd Street South before continuing onto the East Riverview Expressway.
Traffic lights will improve at two different intersections on the Expressway in Wisconsin Rapids. The work began on Monday this week. Traffic barrels and barricades are set up at Chase Street and High Street where they meet Highways 73 and 34. The traffic lights are shut down and turning movements will be restricted. You won’t be able to turn left at either of these intersections from either direction on both Chase and High Street. The work is expected to take approximately 3 weeks. Once completed, the new signal controllers will have updated timings, upgraded communication with the railroad, new conductors, and new vehicle detection systems.
The next Let’s Keep Talking Parent and Caregiver Series will focus on Youth Mental Health Trends. The presentation will happen on Tuesday, November 12th at the Marshfield Public Library at 6PM. Niki Lucht from the Wood County Health Department and Joanne Greenlee with the Marshfield School District will present the results of the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and discuss community wide interventions and prevention efforts. You can mark your calendars for November 12th at 6PM.
Families have the opportunity to attend free Empowered to Connect training in Wisconsin Rapids next week. This ETC training will help you identify trauma’s effects and apply attachment-based principals, and support self-care. This training is hosted by the Wood County Human Service Department. It’s on Wednesday, November 13th from 5-7. This is open to families, foster families, and others who support them.
November is ‘Thank a Business’ month. The Better Business Bureau says the best way a small business can tell their story is through online customer reviews. Sharing a good experience highlights, influences, and celebrates a business. When reviews are submitted through the BBB.org website, customers are assured every comment is legitimate and authentic. BBB customer reviews allows the business to respond and the reviewer to also submit comments to that response. These positive reviews, the ability to respond to negative ones, and marketing reviews helps small businesses grow.
Wisconsin’s 2024 presidential election saw a near-record turnout. About 72 point 6 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, just shy of a 2004 record. The Wisconsin elections commission says about 3 point 4 million people participated in this year’s election, marking the highest number of voters in the state’s history. While the presidential race drew the most attention, fewer voters participated in down-ballot contests. About 30 thousand fewer votes cast in the U.S. Senate race and 193 thousand fewer in the state voting referendum. -By Stuart J. Wattles
All across Wisconsin, school referendum questions were on the ballot, with over one-quarter of districts asking to go over their local tax levies. Over one-quarter of districts asked a total of 138 questions for a total of over 4 point 2 billion dollars to pay for operations and facilities. The majority of these ballot measures passed, highlighted by Madison passing two questions for a total of 607 million dollars.
State Superintendent Jill Underly said that too many communities were forced to ask for more local property tax dollars to simply pay the bills and that the state legislature has under-funded public education in Wisconsin for too long. Underly said that the next biennial budget is another opportunity for Wisconsin legislators to properly fund school districts. Both the 120 districts going to referendum and the 138 questions on ballots are records. -By Jimmie Kaska
Attorney General Josh Kaul, alongside a bipartisan coalition of thirty state attorneys general, announced Monday a $1.37 billion dollar settlement agreement with Kroger.
The settlement addresses the grocery chain’s role in the US opioid crisis. Wisconsin is set to receive up to $21.8 million in payments for opioid abatement. This puts Wisconsin at $780 million in total for national prescription opiate settlements. Kroger has also agreed to injunctive relief. This requires its pharmacies to monitor and report suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions.
The number of Wisconsinites 75 and older is expected to increase by nearly 75% over the next 20 years, according to the study by Forward Analytics, the research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association. Researcher Kevin Dospoy says by 2030 the state is looking at an additional 33,000 new beds that will be needed just to keep our current ratio of essentially 194 beds for every 1000 people over the age of 75. As of last year, the state totaled about 80,000 beds in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
