MENDOTA, Ill. (AP) — Del Monte Foods will close a corn-packing plant in north central Illinois, idling more than 600 full-time and seasonal employees. Parent company Del Monte Pacific Ltd. announced Tuesday the closing of the Mendota plant is part of a restructuring. Del Monte also will close a plant in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, and sell one in Cambria, Wisconsin. It says production will end at the end of the current […]
No big change in the area unemployment rate from June to July. In the city of Fond du Lac the July unemployment rate stands at 3.7 percent, up from 3.4 percent in June. The Fond du Lac County unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.2 percent. The Dodge County jobless rate was down a tenth of a percent to three percent.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A bipartisan proposal designed to help Wisconsin's fledgling hemp industry has been modified to appease concerns of law enforcement. Police testified against the measure earlier this year because it prevented someone who had consumed a legal product made with trace amounts of THC, such as the hemp derivative CBD, from being charged with operating while intoxicated. Instead, the bill as amended would put into law the current […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Department of Natural Resources board is considering an emergency rule to shorten Wisconsin's ruffed grouse season to protect the population. Drumming activity declined 34% statewide from 2017 to 2018. Hunters took only 173,347 grouse last year, the lowest total in the 35 years the DNR has been surveying small-game hunters about their success. The department says the decline's cause is unknown. The season currently runs […]
SUNAPEE, N.H. (AP) — A woman has celebrated her 111th birthday in New Hampshire with a bunch of cupcakes and a tribute from singers. Hazel Nilson was born Aug. 21, 1908, in Chicago. A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, she likes to say she was born the last time the team won the World Series before their big comeback in 2016. Nilson, a former physical education teacher, has been a resident of […]
Fond du lac County Parks officials are taking steps to address parking problems at Columbia Park. Parks director Sam Tobias says the park off Highway 151 north of Fond du Lac has had a lot of camping and boating customers this summer causing some struggles with parking. Tobias says neighbors have complained about people parking their trucks and trailers along County Highway W, prompting the County to consider prohibiting parking along the […]
The Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer says the latest Life Expectancy report for Wisconsin shows that more work needs to be done to reduce drug and alcohol abuse. The report shows life expectancy in Wisconsin has declined for a second straight year in Wisconsin. Fond du lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says of particular concern is the state’s rate of death due to drugs and alcohol. "With drug […]
The life expectancy for people in Wisconsin has declined for a second straight year, according to a new report. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum compiled data from the state department of Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showing increased deaths from alcohol abuse and opioids. The group's policy researcher, Mark Sommerhauser, says he also noticed a troubling mortality trend among the state's black residents. Mortality rates for black Americans […]
The Dodge County Sheriff is expressing frustration over television helicopters interfering with the search for a fugitive in a marsh last week. Sheriff Dale Schmidt says a state patrol aircraft had to back off because of unsafe flight conditions due to television helicopters that were also in the area. "The state patrol airplane attempted radio contact with them, ( tv helicopters) we asked the FAA to make contact with them to see […]