Stories you might have missed from around Wisconsin.
Green Bay: Packers Character Playbook Community Impact Project seeks applicants.
For the fifth year, the Green Bay Packers’ Character Playbook Community Impact Project is inviting Wisconsin middle school students to develop service projects designed to make an impact in their school and/or community. Under the guidance of a Wisconsin school or non-profit organization, students create a service project, with selected applicants presenting the project concept to Green Bay Packers and Character Playbook representatives. A release from the Packers explained, “If approved, project proposals will receive a grant award up to $500 through funds from the NFL Volunteerism Grant to help fund implementation of the project. Projects ideas could include painting and refurbishing a common area, creating welcome kits for refugee or immigrant families, planning a neighborhood beautification project, setting up a community garden and donating produce to a local food bank, or developing online programs where students can visit with younger students or host bingo with senior centers.” Submissions are due by Nov. 1. Grant recipients will be notified by December 2. Full Story
Milwaukee: Nearly $20 million awarded to conserve Milwaukee River basin.
The US Department of Agriculture took another step in their historic push to invest in conservation practices in an effort to mitigate climate change. Last week, the department awarded nearly $20 million in federal funding to a project to conserve land along the Milwaukee River. The Milwaukee River basin spans more than 880 miles across southeastern Wisconsin, from the river’s headwaters in Fond du Lac County to its outlet into Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. The basin runs through rural, heavily agricultural areas to the state’s largest city. The runoff from the farms and urban areas that is collected hurts water quality. In 2022 the basin received a C- grade from Milwaukee Riverkeeper, including an F for phosphorous which is found in fertilizer. The money for the grant is part of $1.5 billion from the USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which gives federal resources to local partners working on natural resource challenges on farmland. Full Story
New Glarus: New Glarus Brewing breaks ground for expansion.
At a time when some craft breweries are struggling, New Glarus Brewing is bucking the trend and expanding. The brewery is planning a 65,000-square-foot, four-story addition that will include four copper-kettle brewhouses that will increase the brewery’s capacity to beyond 300,000 barrels of beer a year. The project also will launch a long-awaited distillery, create a demonstration brewhouse and create a larger retail and tasting space. The expansion also will pave the way for weekend tours and tastings, which were discontinued years ago due to staffing and space concerns. The State Journal reports that most of the brewery’s 125 employees, village officials, state and local politicians, distributors and construction teams gathered Tuesday morning to officially launch the project with a ribbon cutting and ceremonial turns of dirt with gold-painted shovels. Despite the expansions of the past and the latest one that started Tuesday, there are no plans to sell the brewery’s products outside of the state of Wisconsin. Full Story
