MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Gov. Scott Walker has called on President Barack Obama to help ease the propane shortage.
The Wisconsin Republican sent the president a letter Saturday urging his administration to establish and lead a propane supply chain working group to help move propane from where it’s available to where it’s needed.
Walker says Wisconsin has received “great cooperation and assistance” from the federal government so far, and he’s proposing the working group as a follow-up.
His office says in a statement that the group could include Obama administration officials, federal agencies, impacted states and the propane industry.
The propane shortage has caused delayed and reduced deliveries for customers in Wisconsin and other Midwestern states. The causes include the cold winter, a temporary pipeline closure and heavy demand for grain drying last fall.
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MUKWONAGO, Wis. (AP) - Walk inside the Wisconsin high school that was the focus of a fight over Native American mascots and you’d be hard-pressed to find a single image of the school’s Indian logo or mention of its nickname.
A law passed last month gave Mukwonago High School the right to restore its logo on the gym floor and its nickname on athletic uniforms. But district officials have no immediate plans to switch back after changing most logos during the three-year fight.
School districts could object to Wisconsin’s 2010 law requiring the state’s Department of Public Instruction to hold hearings on race-based nicknames if the agency received even a single complaint. But most schools had already given up their Native American mascots by the time the law was changed last month, and officials said they had spent too much time and money on the change to backpedal now.
Mukwonago administrators said many students in the southeastern Wisconsin school district seem satisfied with the new “fast M” logo - a blue M with a yellow outline and serifs that suggest motion - and there’s little to be gained from reopening old wounds right now.
“You’d have no trouble finding people who are still upset about that initial complaint,” said Shawn McNulty, the district’s superintendent. “But right now our aim is just to sit down with the Potawatomi and try to find a permanent solution.”
Mukwonago translates to “place of the bear” in the Potawatomi language.
McNulty said much of Mukwonago’s fight was for principle’s sake. The law required schools to prove their names weren’t racist, something he believes made the process inherently unfair.
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LA GRANGE, Wis. (AP) - Authorities are investigating a fire that went to four alarms and destroyed a barn at a large southeastern Wisconsin egg farm.
The fire was reported around 7:45 p.m. Friday at the S&R Egg Farm in La Grange in Walworth County. The company said in a statement Saturday that one of its 14 barns at the site was a total loss, but no people were injured.
An estimated 300,000 chickens were housed in the barn, WISN-TV reported (https://bit.ly/1fwPS9Uhttps://bit.ly/1fwPS9U ). Firefighters said firewalls helped protect other buildings.
The company statement did not provide a damage estimate or say how many chickens were killed, and CEO Dan Gorecki did not immediately return a call seeking details.
The company said it plans to rebuild the barn and that all its other barns remain in full production. There was no damage to the company offices or its egg processing and packaging facilities and no chemicals were involved in the fire, the statement said. The statement said no further information will be released until the investigation is finished.
S&R Egg Farm is a third-generation, family-owned business founded in 1958. The company’s website says it produces up to 2 million eggs a year and distributes them across the country.
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TOWN OF TIPLER, Wis. (AP) - The Florence County Sheriff’s Office says a De Pere man has died in a snowmobile crash in northeastern Wisconsin.
WLUK-TV reports (https://bit.ly/1bfB3Uxhttps://bit.ly/1bfB3Ux ) it happened just before 2 a.m. Saturday in the Town of Tipler.
Authorities say the snowmobile went off a road and hit a tree. The victim was identified as 48-year-old Russell Krause, of De Pere. Officials say he was wearing a helmet at the time, but died on impact.
The sheriff’s office says alcohol and speed were contributing factors in the crash.
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Information from: WLUK-TV, https://www.fox11online.comhttps://www.fox11online.com
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