1410 WIZM

Special Olympics Wisconsin will be hosting the annual District Softball, Tennis, and Bocce Tournament for over 500 Special Olympics athletes and coaches. The tournament is scheduled for Saturday from 9:00am – 2:00pm in Onalaska. Registration for volunteers begins at 8:30am at Quincy Park. All volunteers will receive a t-shirt and lunch! Call 789-7596 for more info or show up Saturday! Venues by sport are as follows: Bocce – Fields 1 & 2 at the Onalaska Middle School; Tennis – Quincy Park Courts; Softball – JC Field #1 & #2 at Quincy Park, Van Riper #1 & #2 at the Omni Center. Individuals and teams that finish in 1st place will advance to the State Tournament in Eau Claire, August 5-7.

Last September, heavy rains over two days in southern Minnesota washed out roads, flooded farm fields, strained sewer systems, destroyed 80 homes and affected hundreds of other structures. With 11 inches of water recorded in the worst-hit areas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared 29 counties disaster areas.  These counties include Winona.

While stories from last fall’s floodwaters are no longer in the news, recovery is far from over. Worse, heavy rainfall took an even greater toll on farmers whose livelihoods were also affected by standing water that delayed the harvest and reduced crop yields or wiped them out altogether. To help farm families, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture are working together to help them deal with losses and recover emotionally through Farm C.O.R.E. (case management, outreach, referral and education).  The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is joining hands with Lutheran Social Service to partner with an organization that has a statewide reach in its services.

For immediate help, farm families in these counties can call Lutheran Social Service directly at 507.625.7660 or the Minnesota Farmer Assistance Network at 1.877.898.6326.

Democrats in the state Assembly have introduced a constitutional amendment they say is aimed at forcing the Legislature to abide by open meeting statutes.

Democrats maintain Republican lawmakers broke the open meetings law when they hastily convened a committee to debate Governor Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law in March.

A Dane County judge said Republicans violated meetings statutes and blocked the law from taking effect. But the state Supreme Court last month ruled the judge overstepped her authority and rejected claims Republicans violated the open meetings law.

The Democrats' amendment would require legislators to pass laws requiring reasonable notice and access to governmental meetings, including the Legislature.

Two senators from ethanol-producing states are proposing to immediately end a tax credit for the corn-based fuel, agreeing to support shifting some of that money to debt reduction.

Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and John Thune of South Dakota, along with ethanol opponent Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, have proposed diverting $1.3 billion of the money remaining for the tax break this year to pay for debt reduction. And $668 million will be used for incentives for the ethanol and biofuels industries.