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Add Menomonie to the list of No Mow May communities in Wisconsin. The city council yesterday approved a No Mow May pilot program. The idea is to let homeowners grow out their grass to help bees, butterflies, and other pollinators do their jobs. No Mow May lifts any local rules about the height of someone’s lawn. Eau Claire is also a No Mow May community. Folks in Menomonie can sign-up for No Mow May until May 1st.

Wisconsin’s governor has declared a State of Emergency over flooding concerns. Governor Evers yesterday signed an executive order that puts Wisconsin’s emergency responders, and the National Guard on alert ahead of what could be statewide flooding. The governor says rivers and streams are rising because of recent rains and the melting snow. There are already road closures in Eau Claire and near Portage. The National Weather Service says the Mississippi River is almost at major flood stage in La Crosse. Forecasters

 Governor Evers will now decide about a new carjacking law in Wisconsin.  The State Assembly yesterday approved the final vote on a plan to specifically add felony carjacking to the state’s laws.  Right now, many carjackings are charged as ‘operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent.’  State Rep. Cindi Duchow says the current law isn’t working well enough.  The new proposal would make carjacking punishable by up to 60 years in prison.  The governor has not said if he plans to

Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol have killed the largest conservation land purchase in state history.  The legislature’s Joint Finance Committee yesterday scuttled the Department of Natural Resources’ plan to buy a huge chunk of the Pelican River Forest, east of Rhinelander.  Adding the land to Wisconsin’s conservation program would close it to development, logging, and even snowmobilers.  Senator Mary Felzkowski says locals wanted to keep some of the land open, and accused the DNR of ignoring their wishes.  State Rep. Mark Born says

The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says Milwaukee and Milwaukee County are likely going to have to kick-in for the Brewers’ ballpark.  Assembly Speaker Robin Vos yesterday said the city and county are going to need to spend something to convince lawmakers to put up the rest of the 300-million dollars the Brewers say they need to repair American Family Field.  Vos says taxpayers around the state expect Milwaukee to help out.  Vos has said for weeks that he doesn’t want

Wisconsin lawmakers are on the record against a ban on gas-power cars and gas-powered stoves. The State Assembly yesterday approved a plan that would stop state and local governments in Wisconsin from banning cars, trucks, and stoves based on their energy source. State Rep. Ellen Schutt says the idea is to protect choices, and to make sure that Wisconsin’s energy grid is ready for all-electric everything. Governor Evers yesterday said he’s not sure a ban is necessary. He says he’s dedicated to moving toward

Police in Milwaukee say they are making an arrest in three-quarters of the city’s murders. Police Chief Jeffrey Norman yesterday said the city’s clearance rate is at 75 percent this year. That’s a marked improvement over the past two years, where the clearance rate was just 50 percent. Norman says there have been fewer killings this year, 39 through the end of March as opposed to 50 last year, and that gives detectives more time to work cases. Still, Norman

A new report says you are not middle class in Milwaukee if you make six figures.  The website SmartAsset says middle class in Milwaukee includes earners between 31- and 93-thousand-dollars a year. That’s relatively attainable compared to the rest of the country. SmartAsset Milwaukee has the eighth lowest middle class range in the U.S. Statewide, SmartAsset says middle class in all of Wisconsin is somewhere between 45 thousand and 134 thousand-dollars. Nationally, the middle class distinction sits between 52-thousand and 156-thousand-dollars.

ABOVE photo: Blazin’ Brass Quintet, of the Symphony Orchestra. Photo contributed by Aaron Durst.  Menomonie, Wis. – University of Wisconsin-Stout choirs and bands will be performing three unique visual and audio experiences this spring. UW-Stout choirs will present “Vision,” with select songs to incorporate American Sign Language. The Symphonic Singers, Chamber Choir and Devil Tones Acappella will perform at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 910 Ninth St. E, in Menomonie.   The Symphonic Orchestra’s selections

 A former Cardinal from Washington, D.C. is facing sex crimes charges in Walworth County for a decades-old abuse claim. Prosecutors in Elkhorn filed the charges Friday against Theodore McCarrick. He is the former Cardinal of D.C., and is accused of fondling a boy at Geneva Lake back in 1977. McCarrick was first charged with a sex crime back in 2021 in Massachusetts, but the Vatican defrocked him in 2019 after years of complaints about his behavior. McCarrick is 92-years-old, and