This Weeks Articles for 10/22/2026 ...

1. La Farge among recipients of $11.5 million state clean energy grant program...
2. La Crosse Area Builders Association donates $16,000 in tools to 33 area high schools...
3. Goose Island Connector Trail officially opens in Town of Shelby ...
4. Wisconsin group identifies rural bridge problems...
5. UW-La Crosse, Western Technical College earn federal maritime workforce recognition...
6. WI Small Business Summit...
7. Ignite Innovation: Level Up & Launch...
8. Making running water walk: Dr. Eric Booth resurrects 1960s forest research to tackle modern Driftless Area flood risks...
9. Haunted La Crosse: The stories behind the area’s spookiest places...
10. La Crosse professor behind nation's only servant leadership master's program earns hall of fame honor ...
11. 15 Vernon County Small Businesses Awarded $10,000 Elevate Vernon Grants...
12. Great River Road Alternative Fuel Corridor Survey...

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Gays Mills, Wis. – A “Boosting Our Local Arts & Economy” event will be held in Gays Mills on Saturday, November 7 from 9:00am to 1:30pm. The event will include workshops on Grant Writing, Why Public Art is Important to Communities, and how to be part of the $12.4 Billion Dollar Wisconsin arts economy.  

The event will include a resource fair to connect communities and artists with local and state level support organizations, granting organizations, grant writers and community development experts. The day will also feature an artist’s showcase featuring members from the Wisconsin Rural Artists.

“Public art in communities not only expresses the unique character of the community, it creates a vibrancy that encourages tourism and has the potential to attract new residents,” said Kate Koziol, community and business development consultant at Why Not Seneca. “ We are working closely with our statewide partners to ensure we help local communities benefit from embracing the arts as well as helping local artists be more successful.”

The event will be held at the Gays Mills Community Commerce Center, 16381 State Highway 131, Gays Mills, Wisconsin. The event is free to the public and a $5 soup and salad lunch will be available at 11:30. Local communities, artists and interested citizens are welcome to attend the event, network with support organizations and sample the local arts scene.

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LA FARGE, Wis. — The Village of La Farge is among 36 communities, schools, nonprofits, manufacturers and other organizations across Wisconsin selected to receive funding through the state’s Energy Innovation Grant Program.

La Farge was awarded $230,432 under the program’s renewable energy and energy storage category, one of 36 projects sharing $11.5 million in grants statewide.

The funding is intended to help recipients reduce energy use, expand clean energy technologies, strengthen resiliency and support long term energy planning efforts across Wisconsin. Recipients include school districts, local governments, Tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions and private employers.

Gov. Tony Evers and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin announced the awards Tuesday, saying the grants support both economic development and environmental goals.

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ONALASKA, Wis. (WKBT) -- The La Crosse Area Builders Association presented local teachers from over 30 schools with $16,000 worth of tools Tuesday night for the 25th annual Tools for Schools event. 

Educators and association officials said the power tools and raw materials schools get from this event can go a long way toward encourage careers in the trades.

"It really gives the kids the best opportunity to use current tools that contractors are working out on the job sites," said Holmen tech education teacher Dan Lilla. 

"We're just hoping they get to utilize these tools in the classroom, and it's setting them up for their future career," said LABA official Becky Dagendesh.

Since 2001 the organization has donated more than $180,000 in tools. 

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WAUZEKA, Wis. (WKBT) — A Crawford County elementary school is among eight schools in Wisconsin to receive a prestigious state honor for academic excellence.

Wauzeka Elementary School, part of the Wauzeka-Steuben School District, was named a 2026 Wisconsin Blue Ribbon School by the state Department of Public Instruction. The school earned recognition in both categories offered by the program — "Exemplary High Performing" and "Exemplary Gap Closing" — making it one of only three schools statewide to receive the dual distinction this year.

State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly credited the entire school community for the achievement.

"It is an honor to recognize these exceptional schools," Underly said. "This achievement is made possible by the students, educators, staff, families, and leaders who work every day to create school communities where everyone can learn, grow, and take pride in their success. Congratulations to each of these schools on this well-deserved recognition."

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TOWN OF SHELBY, Wis. (WXOW) – Despite rainy conditions, community members gathered Thursday to celebrate the completion of the Goose Island Connector Trail with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The 1.3-mile, 10-foot-wide paved trail runs alongside Highway 35, connecting County Highway GI in the Town of Shelby to Sunnyside Drive in the City of La Crosse.

The $356,000 project was sponsored by the Town of Shelby, with 80% of funding coming from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program. La Crosse County provided the remaining 20%.

The trail offers bikers and pedestrians a safer alternative to traveling alongside traffic, something Town of Shelby Chairman Timothy Candahl said is a major improvement from years past...

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The Wisconsin Transportation Development Association has identified rural bridges that need repair or replacement.

Executive Director Debby Jackson tells Brownfield Wisconsin has seventeen thousand culverts or bridges shorter than twenty feet, so they’re not officially a bridge by state or federal statutes. “But, you can’t fix an issue if you don’t know how many structures there are, you don’t know their condition, and so our first step was going to the legislature in the 23-25 budget and asking for 12.5 million dollars for the simple goal of inventorying and assessing these structures.”

Jackson says over sixteen-hundred of the structures are in poor condition, and have caused problems for delivering farm goods and emergency services.  She says having a complete inventory now allows them to approach the legislature with real numbers, real economic impact, and a request to fund bridge work. “They’re not really eligible for federal funding. They don’t have a state-designated funding source, and so, what we see is that local communities have a very hard time replacing them in their current budgets.”...

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Monroe County Events Calendar	Crawford County Events Calendar	Vernon County Events Calendar
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Pepin County Events Calendar	Pierce County Events Calendar	Jackson County Events Calendar

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LA CROSSE, Wis. (WXOW) – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Western Technical College earned federal recognition for their efforts in strengthening the maritime workforce.

Since the spring, the two schools have collaborated alongside other Midwest institutions through the Corn Belt Ports Rural Logistic & Maritime Training & Education Consortium. The partnership was recently designated as a 2026 Center of Excellence for Domestic Maritime Work for Training and Education by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration.

The designation will help expand training opportunities for students while connecting them with the skills employers need in the maritime industry...

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Riverland Energy Cooperative and Dairyland Power Cooperative presented the check this week at Pietrek Park. The cooperatives also spent a day volunteering at the site.

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Thursday, November 5, 2026

8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

UW-La Crosse Student Union

521 East Avenue N, La Crosse

The WI Small Business Summit is a full day event for existing and start-up businesses in Wisconsin. This year’s WI Small Business Summit will feature the Celebrate Small Business luncheon.

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VIROQUA, Wis. — When Pete and Alycann Taylor packed up their life in Idaho in 2005 and returned to Wisconsin with their newborn daughter, Wilma, they carried a vision to create a hub where outdoor recreation and community could thrive. Twenty-one years later, that vision has transformed the Driftless Region as Bluedog Cycles celebrates its 21st anniversary on Main Street in Viroqua.

What began in October 2005 as a community bike shop offering sales, rentals, and repairs has grown into a cornerstone of local outdoor culture, driving regional tourism and establishing Viroqua as a premier cycling destination...

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VIOLA, Wis. — Youth exhibitors gathered on a beautiful morning at the Donald Kellogg Shelter in Banker Park for the annual Viola Dairy Show, organized with leadership from Dairy Superintendent Gail Klinkner and supported by Vernon County Dairy Promotion and Vernon County Dairy Youth. A total of 34 head of dairy cattle were shown during the event. The competition concluded with Anna Cornell earning the top honor of Supreme Champion with her 3-year-old Jersey cow.

Show Background and Tradition

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LA CROSSE COUNTY, Wis. – Back in the heyday of PL-566 dam construction in the Driftless Region, a low-cost method of reducing stormwater runoff that can lead to flooding was the subject of research at the Coulee Region Experimental Forest in rural Bangor. The runoff reduction method is considered to be as or more effective than other conservation land treatments, and avoids taking cropland out of production.

Led by the Wisconsin Forestry Advisory Committee, the research investigated the potential of forested hill slopes in the Driftless Region to infiltrate stormwater runoff coming down from ridgetop fields. In 1956, the committee submitted a resolution to the Conservation Commission favoring the establishment of a research center to study local forest and water problems. The study was federally funded, and operated from 1961 to the mid-1970s.

Dr. Eric Booth’s talk took place on Thursday, Oct. 1, as part of the Monroe County Climate Change Task Force’s Fall Tour. About 45 conservation professionals from Driftless Region counties, Wisconsin Land +Water, Coon Creek Community Watershed Council, and the Nature Conservancy participated in the tour.

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Mississippi River Regional Planning Commision SouthWest NorthWest State Coulee Regional Business Center THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI MANUFACTURING ALLIANCE Vernon Co. Economic Development La Crosse Area Development Corporation SBDC La Crosse Economic Development Community Development Economic Development Economic Development Trempealeau County Economic Development The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) Vernon Economic Development Association Workforce Connections, Inc. The Pierce County EDC EDC quarterly Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council Job and Business Development (JBD) Program Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority USDA Rural Development Wisconsin Xcel Energy Economic Development Economic Development

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For Michael Scott, a ghost story can be more than just a story. It can also be a way to explore the people, places and history of La Crosse.

Scott, a local storyteller, freelance writer and actor, has spent years collecting stories about the city’s darker past. His interest in storytelling eventually led him to put together a walking tour that combines local history with accounts of potential ghost encounters.

The idea began in 2012, when the La Crosse Public Library approached Scott about developing a walking tour focused on murders, former brothels and other parts of the city’s past. The library’s archives department gathered historical accounts, which Scott used to write the tour’s script...

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LA CROSSE, Wis. (WXOW) — A longtime Viterbo University professor will be inducted into the Robert Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Hall of Fame next week.

Distinguished Professor Tom Thibodeau will be among a group of individuals and organizations that have demonstrated a longstanding commitment to placing their primary focus on the well-being of others. He has been a faculty member at Viterbo since 1984 and is the founder of the university's Master of Servant Leadership program, the only of its kind in the nation.

But for Thibodeau, this honor isn't for him. It's for those who have sacrificed so that he could serve them.

"Service is love made visible and that everything that I've done over a course of years has been because of the hard work and the service of other people," Thibodeau said. "I ask myself each and every day, is my effort each and every day worth the sacrifice that people have made so that they can sit in my classroom? Everything that we do in our life, there's a level of mutuality that comes with giving and receiving."

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Vernon County, WI — Fifteen Vernon County businesses have been awarded $10,000 each through the 2026 Elevate Vernon Grant Program, helping local entrepreneurs invest in their businesses, strengthen operations, and pursue opportunities for growth. Vernon County allocated a portion of the funds received from the Ho-Chunk Nation to make this year’s program possible.

“Strong local businesses are essential to the vitality of our communities,” said Larkin Breckel, Vernon County Economic Development and Marketing Coordinator. “Elevate Vernon helps entrepreneurs address their business needs while connecting them with resources and opportunities to succeed.”

Launched in 2025, Elevate Vernon provides grants of up to $10,000, paired with a required cash match or business education and technical assistance. After receiving 79 applications in its first year, the County continued the program in 2026 with funds from the Ho-Chunk Nation.

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MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has awarded just over $250,000 in E-Cycle Wisconsin Electronics Collection Grants for 39 projects in 35 counties that will host an electronics collection site or event between October 2026 and December 2027. The grants will help fund two permanent electronics collection sites and up to 55 one-day collection events.

Wisconsin’s electronics recycling law, which took effect in 2010, banned many electronics from the trash. It also created E-Cycle Wisconsin, a manufacturer-funded program managed by the DNR that supports a statewide network of electronics collectors and recyclers. As of 2025, households and schools had already recycled 440 million pounds of electronics through E-Cycle Wisconsin.

Since 2022, the DNR has awarded more than $830,000 to projects in 59 counties located mostly in rural areas. These projects have supported development of nine permanent collection sites and 136 one-day collection events.

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STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WKOW) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded a $749,400 grant to Cooperative Educational Service Agency 10 in Chippewa Falls to expand distance learning access for more than 14,000 rural students and 1,900 educators across 12 Wisconsin counties.

USDA Rural Development Wisconsin State Director Andrew C. Iverson announced the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant on Tuesday. The funding will reach students and educators in Barron, Buffalo, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, Marathon, Rusk, Trempealeau, Washburn and Wood counties.

"This investment will go much further to help enrich and strengthen the lives of people who will then be able to make a difference in the lives of others across rural Wisconsin," Iverson said...

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Working together to make the Mississippi River Region a great place to live and work.

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