This Weeks Articles for 7/12/2024 ...

1. Mayors in Mississippi River towns getting through rainy season and flooding...
2. Vernon County considering 15-megawatt 85-acre solar project proposal for county farm...
3. Counties with the longest life expectancy in Wisconsin ...
4. New Borealis train service from St. Paul to Chicago surpasses expectations with 18,500 riders in the first month...
5. City of Viroqua uses DNR grant to start tree planting and watering program...
6. Where food tells a story and farmers are rock stars...
7. Discover a hidden gem in La Crosse: the Dahl Auto Museum ...
8. Managed grazing and strawberry cake on the agenda for July Watershed Council meeting...
9. City of Viroqua is looking for a licensed daycare provider to locate in new workforce housing project...
10. Mayo La Crosse donates $35,000 to Tellurian’s new mental health clinic...
11. Gundersen Health System celebrates new hospital in Whitehall...

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LA CROSSE (WKBT) -- UW-La Crosse announced they are offering a new major.

Students will now be able to major in food and nutrition science, a new 120-credit program approved by the UW Board of Regents in June.

The new major will expand on their existing nutrition minor and offer learning and research opportunities in food science, food safety and food systems.

Staff spearheading the new program say experts in this field will be crucial as the population grows and demand becomes more challenging to meet.

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The City of La Crosse Parks, Recreation and Forestry collaborated with Habitat for Humanity and La Crosse Area Waters for its summer sustainability program kickoff.

On Wednesday people were building rain barrels and learning the vital role they play in the city.

Riley Hunter has a rain barrel. She says sustainable water usage is important for the health of local waterways.

"It`s very critical that we find ways that water shed is actually utilized locally versus just letting it all go into the waterways."

Every summer, The City of La Crosse runs an initiative to promote sustainability. This year`s focus is "Soak It Up Summer," a way for folks to build rain barrels and learn about storm water management.

The barrels trap rainwater that would otherwise carry pesticides and lawn chemicals into rivers and lakes, reducing pollution in bodies of water.

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CRAWFORD COUNTY, Wis. – The Vernon County Energy District (VCED) announced this week that they were able to assist the North Crawford School District secure a grant to purchase two electric school buses. VCED said the purchase is a major step forward in reducing the district’s environmental impact and providing a cleaner, healthier ride for students.

The grant funding comes from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and recognizes the district’s commitment to sustainable practices. North Crawford was awarded $690,000 to be applied to the purchase of two new electric school buses. The Vernon County Energy District played a key role in supporting North Crawford’s application.

Electric buses offer numerous benefits, including:

• Reduced emissions for cleaner air
• Quieter operation for a more peaceful ride
• Lower operating costs for the school district...

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WESTBY, Wis. — on Monday, July 8, Gov. Tony Evers visited child care providers in Waupaca and Westby to highlight the one-year anniversary of enacting the 2023-25 biennial budget and to continue urging Republican lawmakers to release $15 million that was approved in the biennial budget to support child care providers and working families across Wisconsin.

The Governor made a stop at the Miles of Smiles Childcare Center in Westby. Earlier this year, Miles of Smiles announced they will be partnering with the Westby Area School District to open a second location at the Westby District office building in the local high school using one-time federal funds to help address the shortage of child care providers in the region. According to the district, the effort to open a child care center within the district’s facilities was motivated by the lack of child care options in the area. Notably, last year, Gov. Evers highlighted a child care center and the only child care center in nearby Cashton that closed its doors due to funding cuts...

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VIROQUA, Wis.––The Vernon County Conservation and Education Committee (CEC) delayed their vote on a resolution to approve a federal plan to decommission 23 dams in two watersheds during their June 2024 meeting. The resolution was still being reviewed by other counties and legal counsel but will be revisited in their upcoming meeting on July 11. The committee did unanimously approve moving forward with the formation of an advisory committee to discuss what will come after the dam decommissioning process.

Two county board supervisors and committee members, Mary Henry and Nathaniel Slack, will work alongside County Conservationist Ben Wojahn and County Administrative Coordinator Cassandra Hanan and bring back recommendations, including the proposed structure and involved stakeholders. Those recommendations will be brought to the next CEC meeting on July 11. Preliminary discussions proposed two CEC members on the committee, two representatives from the watershed groups and perhaps a couple of “at large” members...

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For the first time in over a year, the Mississippi Valley is not experiencing a drought. That’s mainly because of the heavy rains in recent weeks which led to flooding on the river.

Now that river levels are going down, mayors of towns along the Mississippi are dealing with the flooding. La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds is a co-chair of a group of Mississippi River mayors, and he told an on-line press conference on Thursday that the rain has re-charged area waters.

“In some ways, the rain, the precipitation is welcome,” said Reynolds. He said the area just pulled out of a long drought that cost the nation $26 billion. “And for the first time since 2022, there is no drought along the Mississippi River corridor,” he added...

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Ken Notes: The good news is the river is coming down almost as fast as it came up. Hope you all stayed high and dry...

VIROQUA, Wis. – The Vernon County General Government Committee heard a preliminary presentation from Nakomis Energy of Minneapolis Minn, last week to lease 85 acres of what is known as the county farm for a 15-megawatt solar project that could net the county about $4.2 million over the next 35 years.

Business Development Director for Nakomis Energy, Mark Feitz presented the committee with an overview of what the project would like and how a lease with the county would work. Feitz said Nakomis Energy has done over solar 40 projects, mostly in Minnesota, that include community solar projects as well as direct to utility projects.  Feitz said this project would be a direct to utility project that would sell energy directly to Xcel Energy. Feitz said part of what made this site attractive is its proximity to Xcel infrastructure allowing them to tie into their system with relative ease.

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Ken Notes:Congrats Buffalo, #1. Several MRRPC Counties scored well...

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Tony Evers today joined the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) in celebrating preliminary figures released by Amtrak that show the new Borealis train between St. Paul and Chicago saw 18,500 riders in just its first month of service. According to Amtrak, that is an average of about 300 passengers aboard each of the eastbound and westbound trains operated daily by Amtrak under contracts with Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. In celebration of this positive milestone, WisDOT released a video highlighting the impact and efforts to make this rail expansion possible.

“We knew this expanded service line would go a long way for travelers and commuters alike, and it’s great to see this investment and this hard work is paying off,” said Gov. Evers. “This is a critical part of our efforts to build the infrastructure Wisconsin needs to meet the demands of the 21st century, and I look forward to several exciting rail projects in the future as we work to build the multimodal transportation system for our state’s future.” ...

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Ken Notes: Check out the video....

VIROQUA, WIs. – Thanks to a grant from the Wisconsin DNR the City of Viroqua has created the Viroqua Tree Planting and Tree Bag Program.  Starting this fall, the city will be planting over 50 trees annually in public areas, such as parks and boulevards. To ensure the health of the saplings and other young trees planted in recent years, the city will be implementing the Tree Bag Program. 

“In the first few years of a tree’s life, it requires regular watering. Wisconsin often has stretches of dry weather during the summer months. The deficiency of water can put stress on young trees. To ensure the health and growth of young trees in the community, the city is setting up tree watering bags around trees planted 1-3 years ago residing in boulevards” said city Public Works Intern Joe Binzley.

Starting in mid-July the bags will be installed around Viroqua on boulevard trees requiring extra watering assistance. Informational flyers will be handed out to residents who have a tree watering bag set up in their boulevard. Before the winter months, the city will recollect the tree bags for winter storage...

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VIROQUA – The City of Viroqua has a population of about 4,500.

Yet somehow, the city also has a restaurant with five times that many social media followers.

“It kind of blew up,” Driftless Café Co-owner Luke Zahm said.

Zahm said the restaurant’s farm-to-table ethos has fostered tight connections within Vernon County since he and his wife Ruthie bought it in 2013.

Almost instantly, he said, word spread about the West Central Wisconsin restaurant that focuses heavily on locally sourced ingredients.

“People were hearing about it through the rumblings of social media,” he said. “Once the project got momentum, it started to gain its own steam, and that momentum continued to swell. People came out and said this is the type of food they want to support – and from the day we opened our doors in 2013, it’s been wild.”...

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LA CROSSE, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – Many may know the Dahl name when it comes to the automotive industry, but have no idea there is a museum in La Crosse.

Jansen Dahl is proud to carry on the fifth generation of the Dahl family in the automotive industry.

“It is a huge blessing to be a part of the fifth generation. We got our start in 1911 in Westby, Wisconsin. To have that history and be a part of the fifth generation of the family business is a huge responsibility, but it is also a really fun industry to be involved with,” he said.

 The Website is HERE!

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Ken Notes:Check out the website and be sure and visit when you are in La Crosse.

COON VALLEY, Wis.– More than 40 people gathered in the headwaters of the Coon Creek Watershed to learn about managed grazing and organic dairy farming during the Coon Creek Community Watershed Council’s (CCCWC) July 3 meeting. 

The Canter family, who hosted the meeting, hoped that attendees left their farm with more confidence to experiment with conservation practices, and were inspired to think about ways they could “make running water walk” in their own places across the watershed. 

“Every little bit helps,” Matthew Canter said. “Sometimes what I do can feel innocuous when I’m surrounded by an ocean of non-conservation, but for every little bit I do, things downstream could be a little bit better.”...

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Ken Notes: Good read!

VIROQUA, Wis. – The new 65 unit workforce housing project that is currently under construction at the site of the old county highway shop also includes space for a 6,000 square foot daycare center. Although the property is owned by developer Northpointe Development of Oshkosh, Wis. the daycare (along with a retail space) has been a central part design from the start and the city has been an active partner in the success of the development.

“In speaking with elected officials, organizational partners and members of the community, it is clear the lack of affordable childcare continues to be a preeminent issue for the City of Viroqua and the region. By creating and leasing this childcare facility to a qualified provider at a highly subsidized rate, we aim to help address this issue,” said City Administrator Nate Torres.

The City of Viroqua is offering to lease the space to a qualified provider for $1.00 per year, plus utilities and a share of operational costs. Additional details and a summary of the lease terms are available on the city website...

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A new mental health facility in La Crosse gets a financial boost from one of the city’s hospitals.

Tellurian Behavioral Health has received a grant of $35,000 from the Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse to open an urgent care location in the 1700 block of Jackson Street.

“A lot of times when you have facilities, similar to this one, it’s in neighborhoods, or programs that are not as nice as this,” said Tellurian CEO Kevin Florek, who took part in a check presentation at the new facility Tuesday. “This is a beautiful, home-like environment, where people can feel at home.” and spoke about the welcoming atmosphere of the building:

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WHITEHALL – It had been more than 60 years since the residents in Whitehall and throughout the surrounding counties – Trempealeau, Jackson and Buffalo – have seen a new hospital.

That changed when Gundersen Health System built a new, state-of-the-art hospital at 18601 Lincoln St. in Whitehall.

The new hospital, Joni Olson, administrator at Gundersen Tri-County Hospital, said sits on the same site as the previous building.

“We owned enough property and footprint (on the site) to build the replacement hospital on the same property next to where the old hospital was – the previous hospital on site was razed and torn down last fall,” she said.

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

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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 Vernon Economic Development Association Workforce Connections, Inc. The Pierce County EDC 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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Notes:

Regional Guides

		2023 Wisconsin Campground Directory

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Buffalo County, WI

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Crawford County Wisconsin

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Jackson County, WI 

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Home (lacrossecounty.org)

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Monroe County, WI | Home

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Pepin County, WI

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Pierce County, WI

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Trempealeau County

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Vernon County, WI

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