Local News Briefs Thursday 5/21/15

The 23-year-old Manitowoc woman who led Sheboygan County Sheriff’s deputies on a high speed chase earlier this month waived her preliminary hearing Wednesday. Mary Rasmussen then pled not guilty to the charges she’s facing for the May 11th incident. Rasmussen allegedly stole a purse and a Walmart and a Sheriff’s deputy tried to pull over leading to a chase that reached 120 miles per hour. The chase ended when she ran over a tire deflating device that punctured all four of her vehicles tires.

Highway 23 Meeting In Rosendale Tonight

The state’s Department of Transportation will hold a meeting in Rosendale tonight to discuss preliminary design for improvements to State Highway 23. The improvements will be for a stretch of the highway from Lafayette Street to Becker Boulevard. The meeting is scheduled from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today at the village of Rosendale Municipal Building. A brief presentation will be provided at 5:15 p.m. Construction is currently scheduled for 2018.

Funding Approved For Highway 23 Work In Sheboygan County

Governor Scott Walker has approved $10.4 million to improve 7.5 miles of State Highway 23 in Sheboygan County. The project starts next Tuesday. The highway will be improved from County Highway P to the Sheboygan/Fond du Lac county line. It will also expand the Old Plank Trail from Plank Road to the Sheboygan/Fond du Lac county line. H. James and Sons, Fennimore, WI is the prime contractor. The work involves grading and is the first of a series of projects that will expand 20 miles of WIS 23 from two to four lanes from Plymouth in Sheboygan County to Fond du Lac. While the project starting May 26 will finish by November, the entire expansion project is scheduled to be completed by 2019.

Gudex Glad To See Funding Restored For Public Schools

State Senator Rick Gudex says the Joint Finance Committee did the right thing by increasing funding for public schools by $200 million in the state budget. He says kids coming out of high school are our next work force and if you’re not willing to invest in them then Wisconsin won’t be a competitive state. The state lawmaker from Fond du Lac says he has learned a lot from attending CESA 6 meetings, which school superintendents also attend. He says they’ve gotten good feedback from the superintendents on ways to reduce funding and helping them out in the areas of testing. He says it’s unfortunate that school districts had to live with uncertainty over the state budget while they were renewing teaching contracts for the fall. The governor had originally proposed cutting $127 million in funding for public schools.

Foster Care Families Needed

The director of Fond du Lac County’s Social Services Department says there is a need for more foster care families in the County. Patricia Lancour told the County Board this week says they have seen the number of families willing to be foster parents fall off a bit. She says that’s not unique, it’s a trend they’ve been seeing across the state with families getting busier and showing less interest in being foster parents. She says they are trying to come up with different ways to recruit foster families. She says on a positive note they are placing more children with their relatives. But she says they still need more foster families to be available.

FDL City Offices Closed Memorial Day

City offices in the Fond du Lac City/County Government Center will be closed on Monday in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. The Municipal Service Center will also be closed for all services, including refuse and recycling collection and bulky waste drop off. There will be no refuse and recycling collection on Monday. Refuse and recycling normally collected on Monday will be collected on Tuesday with the normal Tuesday collection. Please have your materials set out by 5:00 am on Tuesday to accommodate the additional collections. Yard waste and brush may still be dropped off during the holiday hours.  The Senior Center and Fond du Lac Public Library will both be closed on Monday. City Transit Buses will not operate on Monday.

Weather Radios Available At County Clerks Office

Fond du Lac County Emergency Management has a brand new batch of NOAA, All Hazards Weather Alert Radios for the public to purchase. County Communications and Emergency Management Director Jim McNabb says they ran out of their previous supply. He says they are available at the County Clerk’s Office on the 1st floor of the City-County Government Center in Fond du Lac. He says you can set them for alerts from specific areas. He says it’s a good way to stay informed not only about severe weather, but about other threats like evacuation information, Amber Alerts and other emergency information. The cost is $28 which includes tax.

UW FDL Commencement Ceremony Tonight

Fond du Lac County Executive Al Buechel will be the commencement speaker for the UW-Fond du Lac’s annual ceremony tonight at 7 p.m. in the Prairie Theater. Buechel was honored with the UW-Fond du Lac’s 2014 Spirit of Excellence Award for his support of education in the community. Also during the ceremony Richard Klein, communications and theater arts instructor will receive the Student Choice Teaching Excellence Award.

New Veterans Service Officer For Dodge County

Dodge County will have a new Veterans Service Officer at the end of the month. The Dodge County Board this week confirmed the appointment of a Andrew Miller, who has 22 years of military service. He will replace Mark Grams, who held the position for 19 years.  Miller says helping veterans is second only to his family in importance.  His first day on the job will be May 31.