June 17, 2024 11p
From WGTD News:
There’s some movement in a dispute that’s threatened some development projects in Mt. Pleasant, including Microsoft. Representatives of the village and the City of Racine have agreed to sit down and talk. The city has held up approval of some water and sewer hookups, seeking an updated utilities agreement with the village now that Foxconn isn’t materializing as planned. The city supplies water and sewer to Mt. Pleasant. The dispute boiled over last week when village president Dave DeGroot showed up at a city council meeting to complain publicly.
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The Racine Police Department has put out a traffic advisory in advance of former President Tump’s scheduled appearance Tuesday afternoon at Festival Hall. They’re advising that motorists in the downtown area should anticipate some delays, but no full closures of downtown streets are planned. Several streets adjacent to Festival Hall will be closed. Access to the Lake Ave. parking ramp won’t be possible from 5th St. but drivers will be able to enter from Lake Ave. The department also notes that a protest is planned for Monument Square. Festival Hall gates will open at 11, but Trump is not expected to speak until 3.
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Although it’s on a list of six UW campuses with structural deficits for the upcoming school year, UW-Parkside is said to be making progress in balancing its budget. Parkside’s projected deficit is $1 million, down from $5.3 million, according to numbers from the UW system. All of the system’s schools have been dealing with financial issues, attributed to lower enrollment and lagging state support. Parkside’s enrollment has held steady since the 2022-2023 school year. But the school is projecting a 2% drop in undergraduate enrollment this fall while graduate programs are expecting a slight increase. This past school year, a dozen employees were laid off, the remaining employees were ordered to take furloughs, 17 employees took early retirements and some vacant positions weren’t filled. Parkside says it expects to eliminate its structural deficit altogether in the 2026 budget year.
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The Racine School Board gave preliminary approval Monday night to a budget for the upcoming school years that includes dozens of position cuts. The equivalent of 170 full-time positions are expected to be eliminated. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the number translates to layoffs or whether the reductions can be accomplished through natural attrition or reassignment. The reductions are due to the closure of two schools, declining enrollment and cuts at the Administrative Service Campus. At the meeting, Board President Jane Barbian noted that additional jobs may be on the line in the 2025-2026 budget. She hopes that the cuts won’t impact student achievement gains.
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The City of Kenosha is cracking down on code enforcement. Through the end of May, there’s been a 41% increase in the number of inspections that have been conducted. Inspectors have been addressing concerns related to tall grass and weeds, junk strewn about in yards, blighted buildings and graffiti. New Mayor Dave Bogdala green-lighted the tougher enforcement.
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A potpourri of items will be considered by the Kenosha Plan Commission when it meets for its regular session this Thursday. Among the items to be discussed…the proposed move of the cat adoption agency Kindred Kitties from its downtown location to a multi-tenant building west of the intersection of 7th Ave. and Sheridan Rd. Also, the commission will consider plans to expand by several units an apartment building in the 8800 block of 39th Ave. that was damaged by fire last year. The owners are preparing to rebuild. And a small business park on Highway 50 that’s mostly hidden from public view by an overpass will be expanding. A couple of additional spaces will be added to the Kenosha Trade and Commerce Park.
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An inmate at the Racine County Jail may have taken advantage of a medical condition to smuggle in crack cocaine. 43-year-old Tanya Price is facing new charges for allegedly hiding the drug in a body cavity. According to the complaint, Price was allowed to forego routine body scanning because she was receiving radiation therapy. According to another inmate, Price began trading crack with other inmates in exchange for food, phone calls and other commodities. Guards got wind of the scheme literally: The floor on which Price was being held was beginning to smell from crack cocaine use.
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